Restrictions or Loopholes? What the UK’s Junk Food Ad Ban Means for Influencer Marketing

When the UK’s new ban on junk food advertising comes into force this week, it will sharply limit how brands can promote products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) across TV and online ad platforms. The rules are intended to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing, but they are also likely to reshape how food brands use influencer marketing.

Under the regulations, adverts for HFSS products are banned on TV before 9pm and prohibited in paid online advertising at any time. 

The ban applies to products deemed to be major contributors to childhood obesity, including sugary drinks, confectionery, pizzas and ice creams, as well as some breakfast cereals and prepared meals. 

Firms that fail to comply risk enforcement action by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

What the rules do allow, however, is brand-level advertising, provided no identifiable HFSS product appears. Companies can promote their name, logo or corporate messaging without showing or referencing specific restricted items, which is a distinction that matters far more to large multinational brands than to smaller challengers.

“Adverts featuring things like the PepsiCo logo or the McDonald’s arches will not be banned,” said Josh Tilley, brand strategy director at marketing agency Initials CX, in comments accompanying the policy rollout. 

For companies with the budgets to run abstract brand campaigns, the restrictions are easier to absorb.

For influencer marketing, that carve-out creates both opportunity and uncertainty.

Paid creators are still covered by the ban

Crucially, the online restrictions apply to paid-for advertising, which includes influencer partnerships. Any creator content that is part of a paid HFSS campaign, even if it appears on social platforms rather than traditional ad inventory, will fall within the scope of the ban.

That means influencers cannot be paid to promote restricted products online at all, regardless of audience age or platform targeting. This closes off a major revenue stream for food creators whose content has traditionally centred on product launches, taste tests or ingredient breakdowns.

However, the junk food ad ban does not explicitly prohibit creators from participating in brand-only campaigns, as long as no HFSS products are shown or clearly identifiable. That distinction is likely to push food brands toward looser, less explicit creator collaborations focused on brand presence rather than product promotion.

From product storytelling to brand ambience

Under the new rules, the subtlety and creativity of influencer marketing vs direct sales tactics may become a necessity.

Brands are expected to brief creators to avoid naming or depicting specific HFSS products, instead leaning into brand values, heritage or cultural relevance. Logos, slogans and visual cues may remain, even as products themselves disappear from frame.

But this approach carries regulatory risk. The ASA has warned that brand advertising may still be restricted if it has the effect of promoting HFSS products by association. 

In practice, the enforcement is likely to be handled on a case-by-case basis, leaving creators and agencies navigating a shifting landscape.

Smaller brands will feel the squeeze first

While large companies can afford brand-led campaigns, smaller food brands may struggle. Many challenger brands rely on influencer marketing precisely because it allows them to explain what makes a product different.

That kind of educational creator content usually depends on showing the product itself. For HFSS brands, those campaigns may now be impossible to run online, removing one of the few channels where smaller players could compete with incumbents.

The result is a reversal of influencer marketing’s traditional role as a leveller, reinforcing the advantage of scale at a time when regulatory compliance itself has become a marketing cost.

Creators caught between health policy and income

For creators, particularly those focused on food, family content or budget meals, the ban could translate directly into lost income. Entire categories of brand deals may disappear, while others become more constrained creatively and legally.

At the same time, the rules may reshape who is seen as a “safe” commercial partner. Brands are likely to favour fitness, wellness and recipe-focused creators whose content naturally features products that fall outside HFSS classifications. 

Over time, regulatory exposure, not just audience demographics, may influence which creators get paid.

There is also a risk that advertising activity moves further into grey areas. As explicit HFSS promotion becomes harder, brands may seek softer brand associations that are harder to define, disclose and regulate, complicating transparency in an already fragile influencer ecosystem.

What do creator economy leaders think?

Thomas Walters, Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder of leading global social agency, Billion Dollar Boy, stressed that this isn't a moment to feel restricted. Instead, it's an opportunity to get even more creative.

“At first glance, the new Less Healthy Food (LHF) advertising restrictions feel like they’re clipping the industry’s creative wings - in particular because we lose the option of straightforward product-centric content.

"But this isn’t a decisive blow; it’s a moment of recalibration. Constraints often fuel invention, and 2026 will be about adapting, not retreating.

“We’re already in an era where audiences reject transactional sponsored content. Why do you think we can remember Cadbury’s Gorilla advert above almost any of their other adverts?

"Audiences don’t want to receive one big blunt brand message in one format, served in multiple cut-downs - they want value: entertainment, education and relevance. Remove the pack shot and you force brands to think bigger, building worlds, rituals and personalities instead of simply pushing products. That’s where growth now sits.

“We’ve seen this play out before. When alcohol brands were restricted, the smartest ones built emotional narratives and cultural moments - and their work became stronger. The same will happen here. The shift from product-first marketing to brand-world building will accelerate, and creativity will move into more interesting territory.

“Distinctive brand codes - colour, sound, characters and tone - will now carry more of the load, alongside richer storytelling and humour rooted in authentic, human ideas. Long-term, these regulations will raise the creative bar.

“If the last decade was about performance and product, the next will be about imagination, emotion and distinctiveness - and the brands that embrace that shift earliest will win."

A public health win with platform consequences

The government estimates the restrictions will prevent around 20,000 cases of childhood obesity and reduce long-term pressure on the NHS. Public health experts have broadly welcomed the move, citing strong evidence that children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertising influences eating habits.

But in a media environment dominated by creators and platforms, the effectiveness of the ban will depend on how rigorously it is enforced, and how clearly regulators define what counts as advertising in creator-led content.

As food brands adapt, influencers may find themselves at the centre of a quieter, more ambiguous fight over what promotion really looks like online.