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Prevention: Marketing to children

Australia's lack of regulation of unhealthy food marketing to children

Last updated 05-06-2025

There is currently no Australian Government regulation to specifically protect children from unhealthy food marketing. The advertising industry has developed its own codes about unhealthy food marketing to children, but evidence shows these are inadequate. Australian children are exposed to hundreds of advertisements for unhealthy foods as they go about their daily lives, from television, social media and a variety of other sources. The Australian National Preventive Health Strategy, the National Obesity Strategy and the Parliamentary inquiry report on The State of Diabetes Mellitus in Australia in 2024 all support action to protect Australian children from unhealthy food marketing.

Key Evidence

01

There is no Australian Government regulation to specifically protect children from unhealthy food marketing

02

The advertising industry sets out some limits on food marketing to children through the Australian Association of National Advertisers Food and Beverages Advertising Code, the Children’s Advertising Codeand the Outdoor Media Association Health and Wellbeing Policy

03

International research shows that industry self-regulatory codes have little impact on reducing children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing

04

The advertising industry codes in Australia do not fulfil the recommendations of international organisations that are aimed at reducing the marketing of unhealthy foods to all children

Limited statutory regulation

There is no Australian Government regulation to specifically protect children from unhealthy food marketing. See Policies to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing for more information on what could be done at a regulatory level.

There is some limited regulation in Australia that sets some limits on advertising during children’s television programming on free-to-air TV – the Australian Content and Children’s Television Standards 2020.1 These standards do not contain any restrictions specific to unhealthy food marketing, instead setting general rules about advertising during C and P rated children’s television programming on free-to-air TV. These standards do not apply to the most popular television programs among children or the times when the highest number of children watch television (between 5:30am and 11pm).2 Given the narrow scope and application of these standards, they are of limited value in actually protecting children from unhealthy food marketing while they watch television.

Advertising industry codes

In Australia, the advertising industry develops its own codes on when unhealthy food can and cannot be marketed to children. The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) administers the following codes relevant to marketing of food to children:

  • Food and Beverages Advertising Code (Food and Beverages Code)3
  • Children’s Advertising Code (Children’s Code)4

Both codes apply to all advertisers. They apply broadly to all forms of media, including new and emerging technologies, and to all promotional activities, subject to some requirements and exceptions such as product packaging and board reports. Both codes define children as under 15, with no provision for those between 15 and 18 years old.

The current Food and Beverages Code has been in effect since 1 November 2021.3 The Code contains some rules about advertising and children, including a requirement that ‘…advertising (including sponsorship advertising) of occasional food or beverage products must not target children.'3

A community panel decides whether an advertisement targets children or not, which considers:

  1. the nature and intended purpose of the product
  2. whether the presentation of the advertisement (e.g. images and language) appeals to children, and
  3. whether the expected average audience includes a significant proportion of children (such as 25% of the audience, where data exists).3

The Code also contains requirements around sponsorship advertising, promotional requirements and awards or prizes, and an agreed definition of what is considered an occasional food or beverage.

  • The children’s code contains some limits around advertising that encourages or promotes an inactive lifestyle or unhealthy eating or drinking habits, encourages excess consumption, uses popular personalities, undermines parental authority or states or implies that a product will give children an advantage.4

Ad Standards manages complaints made under both these advertising industry codes. Complaints are decided by the Ad Standards Community Panel. Ad Standards has no power to impose sanctions on advertisers that breach the codes or to enforce its decisions, and can only request that advertisers modify or withdraw offending advertisements as soon as possible.5 Such determinations take time and are often typically made after the conclusion of the relevant campaign.

The Outdoor Media Association has developed a Health and Wellbeing Policy that restricts the advertising of “occasional” food and drink products on outdoor advertising signs within a 150-metre sightline of a school, other than in the CBD of state or territory capitals.6 The policy also does not apply on buses, trains, trams and taxis, or to advertising not viewable from the school boundary. The policy has been in effect since July 2020.6

Industry self-regulation fails to reduce advertising of unhealthy foods to children

Due to its implementation in late 2021, the AANA’s Food and Beverage code has not been evaluated by independent researchers. However, international studies of industry self-regulation have consistently shown self-regulatory codes are less effective than government-led regulation.7 High levels of advertising for unhealthy foods are found in several different countries worldwide, despite industry-sponsored reports showing high adherence to their voluntary codes. Adherence to voluntary codes is therefore failing to reduce such advertising.8

The AANA and OMA codes on the advertising of unhealthy foods to children do not meet the recommendations of international organisations. For instance, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Cancer Research Fund recommend that regulations be Government-led and mandatory, apply to all children under 18 years old, address children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing rather than what is ‘directed’ or ‘intended’ for them, and that policy development should be shielded from industry influence – the AANA and OMA codes do not meet these requirements.910 Despite Australia endorsing the 2010 recommendations from the WHO on the marketing of foods to children11, Australian children remain exposed to substantial amounts of marketing of unhealthy foods through multiple forms of media (see Impact of unhealthy food marketing on children).

Content for this page was reviewed and updated by Rebecca Bennett and Kathryn Backholer at the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition at Deakin University. For more information about the approach to content on the site please see About | Obesity Evidence Hub.

References

1. Australian Communications and Media Authority. Australian content on commercial TV. 2022. Available from: https://www.acma.gov.au/austra...
2. University of Wollongong, Deakin University. Feasibility study on options to limit unhealthy food marketing to children: Policy options for public consultation. 2024
3. Australian Association of National Advertisers. Food and Beverages Advertising Code. 2021. Available from: https://aana.com.au/self-regul...
4. Australian Association of National Advertisers. Children’s Advertising Code. 2023. Available from: https://aana.com.au/self-regul....
5. Ad Standards: complaints process. 2025. Available from: https://adstandards.com.au/about/advertising-complaints-process.
6. Outdoor Media Association. National Health and Wellbeing Policy. 2024. Available from: https://oma.org.au/national-he...
7. Boyland, E., McGale, L., Maden, M., Hounsome, J., Boland, A., & Jones, A. (2022). Systematic review of the effect of policies to restrict the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to which children are exposed. Obesity Reviews, 23(8), e13447. https://doi.org/https://doi.or...
8. Galbraith-Emami S and Lobstein T. The impact of initiatives to limit the advertising of food and beverage products to children: a systematic review. Obesity Reviews, 2013; 14(12):960-74. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23845093/
9. World Cancer Research Fund International. Building Momentum: lessons on implementing robust restrictions of food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing to children. 2020. Available from: https://www.wcrf.org/policy/our-publications/building-momentum-series/.
10. World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2023, Taking action to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing: a child rights-based approach. Geneva. https://iris.who.int/handle/10...
11. World Health Organization. Set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. Geneva, Switzerland 2010. Available from: http://apps.who.int