Brand ads get green light in ‘less healthy food’ ad ban update

In May 2025, the UK Government issued a major clarification for brands navigating the upcoming ‘Less-Healthy Food’ ad restrictions, as well as an update on when the laws will come into force.

The clarification addresses ‘pure brand advertising’, which we wrote about in our ‘less healthy food or drink’ ad ban guide for marketers:

Think about brands like McDonald’s for a sec. Some of their most famous ads in recent years have been celebrated for how they’ve promoted their products without showing them at all. McDonald’s lean on their familiar golden arches a lot. So that begs the question... can you run paid ads for a brand known for selling HFSS products, so long as the HFSS products aren’t directly featured?

We now have an answer: brand advertising will be legally exempt from the new ad restrictions! But only if it doesn’t feature or imply a specific identifiable ‘less healthy’ product.

So, if your business sells both HFSS and non-HFSS products, or you’re a brand with lifestyle messaging not tied to a specific product (a fashion or tech brand using ‘less healthy’ food as a prop in a photoshoot, for example), here’s the low-down:

✅ You can still run ads that build brand awareness, BUT...

🚫 You cannot feature or allude to specific HFSS items (no visuals, names, or indirect cues that make the product identifiable).

Updated LHF law timeline

There’s also been an update on the timeline of when the restrictions come into play.

The legal enforcement date (that is, when the ‘less healthy food’ advertising restrictions officially become law) has been pushed back from 1st October 2025 to 5th January 2026.

That’s to give time for public consultation and to finalise a new legal document (AKA, a ‘Statutory Instrument’), clarifying the rules around ‘brand advertising’.

BUT — and this is important! — the government doesn’t want to lose momentum on all of this. So: there’s a three-month buffer period (October through December 2025) during which compliance is expected, but not legally enforced.

This means brands should treat 1st October 2025 as the real deadline, even though enforcement technically begins in January.

Still got questions about the forthcoming restrictions? Visit our ‘less healthy food and drink’ information hub, and come to our events in London, Leeds, and Brighton!