Highlighted in bright orange are countries that have implemented legislative protections to free children from exposure to commercial communications for foods high in sugar, fat and/or salt (unhealthy foods) on digital media, such as internet and social media. Countries that will be implementing such a ban within the next 1-2 years are highlighted in light orange.

The exposure of children and adolescents to advertising and other commercial communications for unhealthy foods has been authoritatively linked with different outcomes associated with childhood obesity, including more positive attitudes to unhealthy food, greater consumption of unhealthy foods and greater body weight.

The impact of existing policies to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing, which are primarily focused on television advertising, has been limited. This is further exacerbated by a change in media usage towards digital media, and the increasingly integrated nature of marketing across a number of different media and platforms. Few countries address the digital marketing of unhealthy foods. Those that do, prefer self-regulation by the food and advertising industries. Independent reviews usually find this approach to be severely inadequate.

Latest update: December 9, 2021