Half of city's ads are for junk food, study finds

Bite Back have been buying up advertisement space to raise awareness of junk adverts

Campaigners in Liverpool are calling for stricter government restrictions on advertising after it found half of all billboards in the city promote junk food.

Bite Back, working in partnership with the University of Liverpool, said 50% of adverts were for products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS).

As part of a national campaign, the group has been buying billboards across London and replacing it with the message: "We've bought this so the junk food giants couldn't. We're giving kids a commercial break."

A government spokesperson told the BBC it had taken "bold action to end the targeting of junk food ads", and wanted to reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.

Earlier this year, a ban on junk food adverts being shown on TV before 21:00 was approved to come into force on 1 October 2025.

Bite Back, who campaign for changes to the way unhealthy foods are made, marketed and sold, are urging the government to extend the ban to all outdoor advertising.

Mark Green, professor of Health Geography at the University of Liverpool, said there was a noticeable difference as to where these adverts appeared.

"They are largely concentrated in the most deprived areas of the city, which are communities facing a series of health issues like diabetes, cardiovascular health, and higher obesity rates.

"We didn't find any adverts for these kinds of foods in more affluent areas of the city, which is shameful," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"We have to look at how these environments nudge people towards different types of choices and behaviours, and beyond the choices that they might want to make."

Vin Stokes, from Bite Back, said he was always "bombarded" by the billboards.

"Junk food ads aren't just common, they're the norm, you see burgers and chocolate on every corner.

"Everywhere I walk I am bombarded by them."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "This government has taken bold action to end the targeting of junk food ads, to children, across both TV and online.

"[We want to] reduce the number living with obesity by 20,000, and deliver health benefits to the economy worth £2 billion.

"Through our Plan for Change, we will shift focus from sickness to prevention, reducing the burden of obesity on the economy and the NHS."