Obesity is a beef the ad industry can only win without a pointless ad ban
Silly season was not yet “silly four days”, and the Government came out swinging. They want all of us to start getting active so we can “protect our NHS” even better than we already have been by staying alert and avoiding our each other. It’s also been proposed that there should be cuts (I thought we were done with those?) on in-store promotions, a ban on online advertising of “unhealthy” foods, and a pre-9pm watershed ban on TV ads.
The latter is a huge concern. Not just because some of our most creative brands are due to have their wings (as well as breasts, thighs, and drumsticks) clipped. That’s bad for a few of us who simply like their ads. But because some of our biggest spenders are going to be forced out of action, and that’s bad for the whole industry and wider economy.
Some in the industry see this £200m-sized Howitzer blast through their own foot as a good thing. But if it’s going to cost the industry that much, when the industry is already on thin ice, mid-pandemic, shouldn’t we see if an advertising ban is effective, and then debate its goodness?
So, are advertising bans effective? Sadly, no. We can see from the ban on HFSS food advertising aimed at children that it hasn’t increased the fall in childhood obesity (yes, it’s been falling steadily since 2004). The ban itself has helped reduce exposure to HFSS ads (as well as soft drinks, alcohol and gambling), but this in turn hasn’t brought about the accelerated the government no doubt intended. Mexico has also tried the same thing, to the same fruitless outcome. Why?
Firstly: advertising works. Nobody in the industry (despite absurd claims) is saying that it doesn’t. Advertising actually works very well — at making people choose particular brands. It’s also pretty damn effective at making people behave in certain ways. But the reason it hasn’t driven up obesity like the government may believe is because no ads have told the country, “stuff your face until you swell into a low-altitude blimp”. Data from the IPA shows that 87% of ad campaigns don’t grow the category, but rather shifts purchasing from one brand to another. Obviously, it’s the responsibility of some brands to grow categories, but given there can only be one leader in each, and a multitude of competitors fighting for share that’s already there, you can see how innocent advertising is in all of this.
So if because advertising isn’t really the problem, and therefore ad bans don’t work, what will bring down obesity levels? I prescribe more advertising. And no, not in an “a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun” way. No, I suggest things with the advantage of being able to demonstrate something has a proven track record of effectiveness. Campaigns that have improved diets, got people out exercising, and therefore reduced obesity. Specifically, I’m calling for ads to demonstrate some “Positive Social Proof”.
With ‘This Girl Can’ (2015, FCB Inferno), (in my opinion, creatively one of the best campaigns of the 2010s), Sport England has demonstrated repeatedly that it has encouraged women to take up exercise — over 2.6million, in fact, and still going strong. Change4Life, which led to 534m litres of sugary drinks being swapped at Asdas nationwide, was described by Yale University as “the most motivating obesity advertising in the world”.
Those are the headline acts. I have more: ‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’ (2019, Adam&Eve/DDB) has (somehow) made 55% of children think eating veg is fun. ‘Every dish an adventure’ for Tenderstem broccoli (2015, McCann Bristol) drove an additional 2m households to try the veg. There’s the supporting cast of ‘Peas Please’ (2018, Food Foundation) and ‘Eat in Full Colour’ for Birds Eye (2019, Grey). Then of course there are the endless TV chefs promoting healthy eating, the Joe Wicks workouts (which Boris himself credits for his own weight loss, as opposed to seeing fewer ads for bacon), Couch-to-5k. THEN there’s all the sports brand advertising. Even Burger King, in admirably making a vegan burger cooked in meat juices (inedible for vegans), and then nobly showing a Whopper turning mouldy (inedible for anyone), have made an unexpected effort to put people off their brand and products, and must be commended for doing so.
Bans or limits on HFSS advertising have not reduced obesity levels, nor raised activity levels. Therefore, extending the ban will only further its ineffectiveness at a disproportionately large cost of the ad industry. It may cap a few ad exposures, yes, but also plenty of innocent knees too. The industry is already suffering as a result of COVID-19, we need our health back too. But advertising positively has repeatedly made a difference.
So, Boris, let us do our job so you can better do yours. Let us never speak of this again. Let’s instead get walking and talking, and start thinking seriously about how we’re going to tackle this monumental brief together.
