Adverts for junk food are set to be banned at Tube stations and bus stops to tackle soaring rates of childhood obesity, the Evening Standard can reveal.
Draft plans that would prevent the promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar across the Transport for London network are expected to be formally approved next week.
Obesity experts describe the initiative as “world-leading”. It is part of a series of measures to address London’s status as the European city with the most overweight and obese children, 37.7 per cent of those are in the last year of primary school.
TfL’s outdoor advertising sites are the most lucrative in the world, generating £147 million a year to reinvest in public transport. About £20 million a year comes from food adverts — of which an estimated £13 million could fall foul of the new rules.
Full details are due to be announced soon after Mayor Sadiq Khan studies the results of City Hall’s public consultation. But, in an interview with the Standard, he made clear his enthusiasm for a crackdown, saying protecting children from junk food was a “social justice issue”.
He said: “When I started looking at the statistics for childhood obesity in our city, it was heartbreaking. What I was seeing was in the poorest parts of London childhood obesity was the worst. In Barking and Dagenham, something like 45 per cent of Year Six children — these are 10 and 11-year-olds — are overweight or obese. You compare that to Richmond, where it’s 23 per cent. This is an issue of social justice — you have the poorest children overweight and obese.
“I was being told stories from parents and carers with children at a Tube station or a bus stop, they see these adverts for fast food outlets. The children put pressure on parents or carers to get the junk food.”
Amsterdam banned junk food adverts on its metro in January. Mr Khan’s aides say early indications of its success have encouraged London. The Mayor has a duty to reduce health inequalities between boroughs and believes TfL “has a responsibility over and above bringing in revenues” from advertising to help him achieve this.
TfL will use the Food Standards Agency’s nutrient profiling system to determine whether a food or drink is high in fat, salt and sugar. It is not yet known whether adverts that feature only the logo of a food and drink company, such as McDonald’s “golden arches”, will also be banned. Mr Khan said: “If you are somebody who makes junk food, you can’t advertise junk food but you can advertise healthier alternatives.”
Other anti-obesity measures include banning new takeaways within 400 metres of a school and awarding bronze, silver and gold rankings to childminders and nurseries that encourage children to develop healthy habits.
