LHF - Less Healthy Foods Television advertising for food and drink products

Advertisements for identifiable food or drink products that are classified as “less healthy” are subject to a 5:30am to 9:00pm timing restriction reflecting specific provisions of the Communications Act 2003 (as amended) – see rule 32.21. Other high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) product advertisements (including advertisements restricted by rule 32.21 shown at times outside the timing restriction) are subject to a separate scheduling restriction – see rule 32.22.

Less healthy products (LHF) : General - ASA | CAP

Scheduling of less healthy product advertisements

Background

The Communications Act 2003 section 321A prohibits television programme services provided between 5.30 am and 9.00 pm from including advertisements for an identifiable less healthy food or drink product. The restriction is reflected in rule 32.21.

Rule   32.21

Television programme services must not include advertisements for an identifiable less healthy food or drink product between 5.30am and 9.00pm.

Definitions and supporting information

A food or drink product is “less healthy” if:

• it falls within a food or drink category specified in The Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024; and 
• it is a food or drink product high in fat, salt or sugar (an HFSS product).

For guidance on the less healthy product categories set out in the 2024 Regulations, see the Department of Health and Social Care’s guidance, Restricting advertising of less healthy food or drink on TV and online: products in scope.

"HFSS products" are those food or soft drink products that are assessed as high in fat, salt or sugar in accordance with the Department of Health and Social Care's Nutrient Profiling Technical Guidance issued in 2011.

A less healthy food or drink product is identifiable, in relation to advertisements, if persons in the UK (or any part of the UK) could reasonably be expected to be able to identify the advertisement as being for that product.

The following exemptions apply to Rule 32.21.

• Brand advertisements – In accordance with The Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025, advertisements that promote a brand, including the brand of a range of products are exempt. This exemption does not apply to an advertisement: 
  • the content of which depicts a specific less healthy food or drink product (unless such depiction of the product is only by way of the name of the product, including where the name of the product appears in the logo of a company, franchise or other commercial entity or in the logo of a brand of a range of products, and that product’s name falls within the criteria listed in the next sub-bullet); 
  • that promotes a brand the name of which is the name of a specific less healthy food or drink product (unless the product’s full name is the name or is included in the name of a company, franchise or other commercial entity which was established before 16th July 2025 and which held that name immediately before that date; or it is the name of the brand of a range of products, where that brand was in use, as the brand of that range, for the purposes of marketing, advertising or retail sale immediately before 16th July 2025 and held that name immediately before 16th July 2025); or 
  • the content of which includes a realistic image of a food or drink product where the realistic image shows the food or drink itself and is not only of the product’s packaging, and the food or drink product is visually indistinguishable from a specific less healthy food or drink product.
• Advertisements by food and/or drink SMEs – advertisements included in television programme services as a result of arrangements made by or on behalf of a person who is, at the time when the arrangements are made, a food or drink small or medium enterprise (“food or drink SME”), within the meaning given by The Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024 (in general terms, a food or drink SME is a business that employs fewer than 250 people, including as part of a franchise agreement).

Where terms are used in the rules and supporting information above that reflect legislation, their meaning should be understood with reference to the relevant legislation.

Guidance on the application of the less healthy product advertising rule (including information on the definition of terms used and the exemptions to which the rule is subject) is available here.

Scheduling of HFSS product advertising 32.22

Television advertisements for HFSS products may not appear in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 16.

Guidance to help broadcasters identify brand advertisements that have the effect of promoting an HFSS product is available here.

For further assistance and more in-depth guidance on LHF restrictions please contact Pete Bellas – Here