The ASA has shared a set of new research which reveals that children’s exposure to HFSS as decreased by two thirds between 2016 and 2023.
Key findings in the research, revealed that children’s exposure to both food and soft drink ads decreased by two thirds between 2016 and 2023, from an average of 12.4 HFSS product ads per week in 2016 to 4.4 HFSS product ads in 2023.
Within the same period, TV alcohol ads decreased by three quarters and TV gambling ads decreased by three fifths.
According to the ASA, this suggests that children’s exposure to TV ads is declining at a similar rate to their exposure to all ads, tying in with children watching less live TV.
Despite the downward trend, health experts have called for stricter regulation on junk food advertising in order to prevent businesses from exploiting loopholes.
Outside of TV, NGOs have also accused food brands of using sinister tactics like bright packaging to hook young people.
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The quantity of total TV ads seen fell by three quarters from the peak in 2013 – an average of 229.3 ads per week to 58.2 ads per week in 2023.
“TV remains a powerful medium, and one that attracts significant amounts of ad spend. This report shows that businesses and broadcasters are keen to ensure ads are responsible, ensuring that ads that could potentially lead to harm are targeted away from under-16s,” said project lead Becky Levell.
“We’re pleased to see that exposure remains low, even as viewing habits change,” she continued.
“As the ad regulator, we need to know what ads children are seeing, and we’re continuing to find new ways of collecting and analysing that important data.”
“Projects like Exposure Reports, our proactive monitoring sweeps using world-leading Avatar technology, and the cutting-edge 100 Children Report, help us ensure that our regulation is thorough, effective and fair.”
