Chris Bryant, minister of state for media, tourism and creative industries, has pledged to provide clear guidance on advertising ‘unhealthy foods’.

Speaking at the Advertising Association’s LEAD conference, he said: “Our priority is proportionate regulation and clear guidance for businesses operating in the sector, and as you would expect from us, we want to reduce the NHS backlog, and we want to support people to lead healthy lives.” 

Lisa Hayley-Jones, Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the Advertising Association, responded positively to the speech. She said: “We welcomed the Minister’s commitment to working with the ASA to find a sensible solution around Less Healthy Food. Businesses urgently need clear guidance that reflects the policy on brand advertising that governments have stated for the last 4 years. We will continue to work closely with the Government and regulator to find a workable set of regulations.”

In a wide ranging speech, Bryant touched on the Apprenticeship Levy, the governments’ consultation on AI and copyright law, creative education and trust in advertising. 

Hayley-Jones added: “The Advertising Association was pleased to hear the Minister acknowledge the important role of our industry both domestically and through exports, with its rich offering of imagination and craft. This is further supported by our emerging Ad Pays report, which will show advertising sits at the heart of the creative ecosystem, supporting over 4 million jobs across the UK economy.”

Bryant also touched on the importance of trust in advertising. Last month the Advertising Association revealed the latest data from Credos Trust Tracker, which saw a significant uptick in trust in advertising. The 2024 data reveals a continued positive trajectory for trust in advertising, which rose from 36% to 39% over the past 12 months. This is up from 30% in 2022. The increase was largely driven by young people.

Hayley-Jones added: “The DCMS Minister shared his views that advertising’s success is fundamentally built on trust. We agree and our latest work shows that trust in advertising is on the rise, with more work being done to ensure the public has the very best advertising experience.”

She continued: “We welcomed the Minister’s recognition of the importance of a creative education. There is a wealth of work being done by our advertising literacy programme, Media Smart, to help young people in schools up and down the country consider creative careers and create a steady stream of talent into our future industry.”  

Last year Media Smart published a dedicated guide to help young people better understand political advertising.

Image credit: Bronac McNeill