New rules coming into play today (1 October), will drastically change how many of the UK’s biggest brands can advertise on TV and online, and could have far-reaching impact on media choices, innovation, and even on how brands themselves are built.

The restrictions will mean that less healthy food (LHF), which is a subset of foods classed as high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS), will not be allowed to be depicted in any online advertising or on TV pre-9pm.

These new rules were set to come into law today, introduced as part of government legislation designed to help tackle childhood obesity. However, after appeals from the advertising industry, the government agreed to delay the introduction of the law, in order to write in a brand advertising exemption. This exemption is designed to ensure brands that sell LHF products will still be able to use the restricted channels, provided they do not show any in-scope items in the ads.

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For example, the amendment to the law should ensure a fast-food brand that is best known for LHF products is still able to advertise on TV pre-9pm, provided the ad features either products out of scope of the law, or does not feature any products at all.

The original law was worded in a way that the exemption was not clear, and so the government agreed to a delay to introduce a Statutory Instrument to amend the legislation. This means the actual law will not come into force until 5 January 2026. However, earlier this year, advertisers struck an agreement with the government stating they would comply with the rules from October onwards.

This means the restrictions start today, just as many advertisers are beginning to think about the “golden quarter” and Christmas, when indulgent food and drink play a particularly important role for consumers, and many brands invest a significant proportion of their advertising budget.

Influence on innovation

Many will be keeping an eye on what happens in this crucial final quarter of 2025, ahead of the new restrictions coming into play. One marketer who says he will be watching the approaches brands take is Little Moons marketing director Ross Farquhar.

Unlike many of the brands that fall under the restrictions, mochi ice cream brand Little Moons most heavily invests in the run-up to summer, rather than ahead of the festive season.

Despite being designed as a portion-controlled “permissible” treat, almost all of Little Moons’ products fall under the scope of the incoming legislation, notes Farquhar.

In some categories, such as soft drinks and savoury snacks, there’s lots of innovation that can be done to create products that are LHF-compliant and not under the scope of the legislation. For example, last year, PepsiCo UK transformed its Doritos portfolio to make it entirely non-HFSS, meaning it can now advertise the brand freely without it being subject to the restrictions.

It could actually mean that brands spend a little bit more of their spend on more brand-building work, and a bit less on activating new product ranges.

Jon Evans, System1

This is less easy in other categories. Farquhar highlights ice cream as one category in which it is extremely difficult to create great-tasting products that are non-HFSS. Little Moons’ compliant range is its Refreshos products, which are made of sorbet rather than ice cream. He notes that the range will be particularly useful to Little Moons as the rules come into effect, as it will allow the brand to continue to be on those restricted channels.

When it comes to innovation more generally, of course, brands remain free to create products that best meet their consumers’ preferences, regardless of whether they’re classed as LHF or not. However, brands innovating in the LHF space will no longer be able to promote their new products online or on TV pre-9pm.

Farquhar says that is already something Little Moons is taking into account in its innovation processes.

“One of the questions we ask ourselves at the start of any project now is: is our ambition to make this compliant with that legislation? Or, are we knowingly choosing not to do that and accepting the fact it’s going to put some restrictions around launch?” he says.

Driving a re-balance?

New product news is often a powerful force for brands wanting to bring consumers in the door. Particularly for fast food brands, a new burger or pizza offering, for example, can drive frequency as consumers seek out the novel food.

However, from today, any new product falling under the rules will not be able to be advertised on TV pre-watershed or on online channels at all. System1 chief customer officer Jon Evans wonders if this might actually drive something of a rebalance towards brand-building activity and away from sales activation work.

Sales activation advertising is very often linked to new product development, he says, giving the example of big fast-food chains that rotate their ranges and devote most of their ad budget to advertising these range rotations.

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“It could actually mean that brands spend a little bit more of their spend on more brand-building work, and a bit less on activating new product ranges, which actually may not be the disaster we might think, because generally, brands tend to spend too much on activation and not enough on brand-building,” Evans says.

While the new restrictions do pose a challenge to brands, they also require strategic thinking and a strong positioning, notes Gareth Turner, founder of consultancy Big Black Door and former Weetabix head of marketing. Now, more than ever, brands need to ensure their whole marketing mix, across the 4Ps, is optimised, rather than just focus on advertising.

“Even compliant brands shouldn’t be relying on promotions to grow their brand,” Turner says.

The power of the brand advertising exemption

The advertising industry was clear that the incoming legislation should carve out an exemption for brand advertising without LHF product depicted. With many brands in the category no longer able to depict their most popular products, it’s an exemption that many have suggested may lead to more brand-led ads that do not rely on heavy product imagery.

Evans points to McDonald’s as an example of a brand that has been preparing for the introduction of the rules by creating a platform where no product is shown, through its ‘Raise Your Arches’ campaign.

“I love McDonald’s recent campaigns, they seem to have got ahead of this, because they’ve seen it coming, and so they’ve been practicing not showing any burgers and even not mentioning their name,” he says.

It’s pushed us to think beyond the perhaps more expected channels that we’ve used historically.

Ross Farquhar, Little Moons

He cites it as a powerful example of a brand using creativity to find another way to tell a story that is compliant with the new rules. However, he also concedes that this brand-led, no product approach benefits large legacy brands with “a bank of memories” among consumers.

Little Moons is a relatively new brand that cannot count on decades of brand building.

“[The rules] work in the interest of the already huge brands with decades and decades of advertising behind them and penalise those of us that are a bit new but are trying to do something different,” he says. “That’s going to make life really, really hard.”

The problem is compounded for Little Moons as its products, bite-sized mochi ice cream balls, are still somewhat unfamiliar to consumers, meaning not being able to show its range is a huge challenge for the brand, he notes.

Pushing advertisers forward

The new rules around LHF advertising make TV a significantly less attractive channel for Little Moons, notes Farquhar. Instead, the brand is concentrating its spend in places like out-of-home, where the restrictions will not apply.

“Maybe something good that has come out of it for us is that it’s pushed us to think beyond the perhaps more expected channels that we’ve used historically,” Farquhar says, adding that the brand has begun trying podcast advertising, for example.

Big Black Door’s Turner is confident that challenger brands can find a way forward even as the channels in which they can advertise are restricted. He points to the alcohol sector, which has long been subject to advertising restrictions. New brands have still been able to break through in that sector, even with restrictions in place that may favour big, established brands.

Challenger brands are used to thinking differently to drive growth, Turner says, adding that he doesn’t think the new restrictions will change that.

“Most challenger brands, the ones I’m dealing with, they’re not on TV, they can’t afford that anyway,” he says, “So they’re already thinking laterally, they’re already doing other things.”

Marketers are “resourceful”, he notes, anticipating that brands of all sizes will find a way forward despite restrictions.