From next October, the UK is going to ban products classed as HFSS (high in fat, sugar, and salt) from being advertise before the 21.00 watershed.
This may sound draconian, but the reasoning is that a whopping 64% of the UK population are now either overweight or obese, and diet-related diseases cost the UK economy around £260BN a year in direct costs to the NHS and lost productivity.
This puts the economic costs of unhealthy food consumption right up there with smoking and alcohol induced health problems.
This is not so much because the harms of an unhealthy diet are greater per person than those induced by alcohol and smoking, rather it's because unhealthy eating is just much more widespread.
Given the costs associated with poor diets, and given the kind of sleepwalking we've had into our diets getting steady worse, you would have thought everyone would get behind such a VERY specific ban.
But not the good old Daily Mail
And other shit rags, seeking to make yet more profit out of twisting the nature of the ban...
Hence we have a mainstream media narrative focusing on the “bonkers Labour junk food crackdown”, with recent headlines telling us that porridge is going to be banned.
The only problem is that this simply isn't true: normal oats, that is just oats, aren't covered by the ban.
The ban only covers some of the ultra-processed porridge varieties, such as porridge pots loaded with syrup and/ or cocoa, and a whole range of colourings and artificial flavourings, what you might more accurately call 'porridge like substances' rather than describing them as actual porridge.
In truth it's a very limited ban...
The BBC have a more reliable guide...
For a food to be banned for advertisement it has to be classified as unhealthy, that is have above a certain amount of sugar, salt or fat AND to fall under one of 13 food categories, such as muesli, soft drinks, cakes, and so on, so it has to be processed.
In short, things like Salted Caramel porridge and chocolate flavoured muesli are out, Tesco own oats, just oats, are still allowed free-reign on advertising.
Fresh foods such as Avocados with their high fat content or nuts, just nuts, won't be banned from advertising.
The details are yet to be fleshed out....
A good thing...?
Well from a pure libertarian perspective, yes, but honestly it's only before 21.00, it's so limited to ultra processed food, the costs of people sleepwalking into habitually eating this shit are so great, I've no problem with this policy at all.
I've much more of a problem with shit rags twisting the facts.