An Evaluation of the Effect of Child‐Directed Television Food Advertising Regulation in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Faced with increasing rates of childhood obesity, the U.K. government has recently introduced stricter regulations to reduce children's exposure to advertising of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS). The purpose of our paper is to quantify the impact of HFSS regulations on household expenditures in the three sequential “phases” that reflect the evolution of the U.K. regulatory regime: a period of no regulation, a period of voluntary self‐regulation at company level, and the current coregulation implemented by the industry code of practice. Results suggest that coregulation is the only regulatory mechanism that leads to a significant reduction in advertising expenditures. The reduction in total advertising of £11.4 million is composed of an £15.2 million decrease in television (TV) HFSS advertising expenditures. This decline in TV advertising is partially compensated by other media, which translates to a change in household HFSS food and drink expenditures. However, self‐regulation and coregulation lead to reduction on HFSS expenditure. As a result of regulation, households without children decrease HFSS drink expenditures by £5.2 per capita (per quarter), while households with children decrease per capita HFSS food expenditures by £14.9 and HFSS drink expenditures by £5.6 (per quarter).