Our latest report, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, has uncovered the widespread presence of junk food advertising in the UK’s most underserved communities. The research highlights how major food companies are saturating these communities with unhealthy food ads, reinforcing health inequalities and driving food related ill health.

We analysed outdoor advertising across Liverpool, Southwark (London), Birmingham, and Newcastle upon Tyne, and found that nearly half (377, 44%) of all 859 outdoor ads captured were for food and drink. Of the 333 adverts featuring a food or drink product, the majority (190, 57%) featured at least one product high in fat, sugar and/or salt (HFSS) [1]. These are adverts located on surfaces including bus stops, billboards and telephone boxes.

In a bold response, Bite Back youth activists, backed by Impact on Urban Health, have secured billboards across London, not to sell products, but to block junk food adverts entirely. We have placed 365 billboards in high-traffic areas across Lambeth and Southwark, including London Bridge Station, with one clear message:

“We’ve bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn’t – we’re giving kids a commercial break.”

Farid, a 17-year-old Bite Back activist from Manchester, said: "We wanted to turn the tactics of Big Food back on themselves and draw people’s attention to the deliberate influence these companies have over us and younger children. Their presence is everywhere, and it affects all our chances of living a long and healthy life. Junk food has become the cultural wallpaper, and it’s damaging our generation’s health. It doesn’t have to be this way. Advertising could be a force for good—imagine that."

Our analysis of ad spend data showed that in 2024, food and drink companies spent over £400 million on street advertising. The top 10 spenders included McDonald’s, PepsiCo, KFC, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez and Red Bull [2].

These ads are not just widespread; they are heavily concentrated in the most underserved communities, where junk food adverts appeared at six times the rate per kilometre compared to the least disadvantaged areas.

Yacub, also 17, explains: "Everywhere I look, there’s an advert for unhealthy food and drink — on my high street, at the bus stop, on billboards near my school or college. We’ve had enough. Children deserve to grow up in environments where they aren’t constantly bombarded by unhealthy food marketing."

This issue extends beyond the high streets. Junk food marketing surrounds children in the places they spend the most time. Our research reveals that 35% of schools have at least one junk food advert within a short walk from their gates, reinforcing unhealthy food options from an early age and normalising them as part of daily life [1].

Bite Back and Impact on Urban Health are calling for stronger regulations to protect children from junk food ads

Our study demonstrates that the way junk food is advertised on our streets needs to change. Currently, unhealthy food ads dominate public spaces, unfairly influencing children and fuelling rising rates of food-related ill health. Yet outdoor advertising remains largely unregulated, governed by outdated, industry-led standards.

Local authorities are doing as much as they can to set the stage for healthier food, but they don’t have control over private advertising in their local area. That’s why local leaders now need support from the national Government to protect the private advertising spaces which local policies currently can’t reach. This patchwork approach leaves children unprotected from relentless junk food promotion, with no meaningful safeguards to limit their exposure.

Bite Back and Impact on Urban Health are calling for urgent action to break this cycle and bring about meaningful policy change. We are urging the government to adopt three urgent reforms to protect young people from the flood of unhealthy food marketing:

• Follow the lead of local authorities with healthier food advertising policies and implement total HFSS marketing restrictions across all outdoor advertising.
• Explore ways to limit other forms of marketing that have the effect of promoting unhealthy products, such as brand advertising, in-app marketing, and sports sponsorship, which all contribute to the normalisation of unhealthy foods.
• Require businesses to report publicly and consistently on the healthiness of their food and drink sales, thereby incentivising companies to shift their focus towards healthier products.

At the same time, we're calling on businesses to set clear, measurable sales targets for healthier products and publish annual reports on their progress. This will incentivise businesses to phase out the marketing of unhealthy products and shift their advertising towards promoting healthier options.

Nicki Whiteman, interim Chief Executive Officer of Bite Back said: “Our young activists operate on a tiny fraction of what Big Food has to spend on outdoor advertising but they are making a powerful point with this bold and characteristically courageous campaign to take on the might of the global companies. We are enormously grateful to Impact on Urban Health for supporting our mission and would ask other funders to do the same as David takes on Goliath in this mammoth battle for children’s health.

“The changes we’re calling for are crucial for holding junk food companies accountable for the impact their marketing has on children’s health and shifting the balance of power from industry interests to policies that genuinely prioritise public health.”

Our latest report Advertising. Are food giants bombarding young people on our streets? can be found here.

For more information, interview opportunities, videos and photography: Henry Makiwa on henry.makiwa@biteback2030.com / 07523681057

[1] Read more in our full report: Advertising. Are food giants bombarding young people on our streets?

[2] Nielsen (2025) Out of Home Advertising Spend Analysis