In 2023, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority — headed up by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham — asked for our help! They wanted to show how the problem of junk food advertising impacts the lives of young people living in Greater Manchester. So, we started a new project together. We hit the streets of Manchester, collecting evidence, snapping photos of ads, and speaking to our activists based in the region. Armed with our evidence, we collated our findings into a report and recorded a video with our activists to illustrate how the problem manifests for the over half a million young people in Greater Manchester.

One of our activists, Lucy, took the findings and video to a meeting with officials from the Mayor’s team. What Lucy and our other activists shared with them clearly struck a chord, because a few months later, Andy Burnham announced he would bring in a policy to restrict junk food advertising on the Bee Network, Greater Manchester’s public transport network — winner, winner!

In this blog, Lucy shares her journey of being a part of this successful campaign, and how it felt watching key moments unfold.

"Hi! My name is Lucy, I’m 17 and I’m from Oldham in Greater Manchester. I joined Bite Back in 2021 and I joined because I want to make a change in my local community. I have seen firsthand the flood of junk food adverts on public transport. I get the bus to college every day, and I will never forget when my regular bus was almost unrecognisable because the whole thing was a giant junk food ad. On top of this, you can see the tram stop from my politics classroom window. Every day I am bombarded with junk food ads not only on the platforms, but wrapped around the trams themselves. In fact, as soon as I left a meeting discussing this very issue with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, a tram pulled into the stop with a huge energy drink advert wrapped around it. Young people should not have to stomach this, which is why I am insanely happy that Manchester has taken this step to protect the health of a generation, and I hope that other areas follow soon.

When watching our video and reading the final report, I was not at all surprised by the volume of junk food ads within Greater Manchester. It is something that has been ingrained into the region to the point where many would not see the issue with it. That’s why speaking to policy makers within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority was so empowering. They saw why these big food companies needed to be stopped. I was able to share my personal experiences being a young person in Greater Manchester, and it really felt that they were listening and valuing my opinion.

When I heard the announcement that junk food advertisements will be banned on the Bee Network, I was ecstatic. Not only because I have been a part of this change and my experiences have directly impacted those in charge, but also because I realised how much this change will benefit the health of the young people within my local area and how young people will not be constantly bombarded with junk food like I have, when I simply want to get to college on time.

Lucy at the Craftivism workshop during the Bite Back Summer Residential

While this is an amazing win for Manchester, we need this to be repeated in other regions nationwide, in order to improve the health of a generation. It's incredible that my voice has impacted those in charge, and made some real change. By prioritising the health and well-being of its young people, Manchester has set a powerful example for the rest of the nation, and by replicating this elsewhere, we can stop junk food from playing the starring role in the lives of young people. If I had one message to policy makers nationwide, it would be to look at the success in Greater Manchester and replicate it, for the benefit of young people everywhere. After all, Manchester is renowned for its history of pioneers, and this is definitely an example of that."