A Cambridge University student who began campaigning against junk food advertising while still at school has warned that new restrictions coming into force this week have been weakened by corporate lobbying.
Dev Sharma, 20, who is studying Human, Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge, says the long-awaited ban on junk food advertising has been undermined by loopholes that allow major brands to continue targeting children. Despite being hailed by ministers as a “world-leading” measure, he argues the law still permits companies such as McDonald’s to reach audiences as young as eight through brand-only advertising.
“This ban has more loopholes than a box of Cheerios,” said Sharma. “McDonald’s can still broadcast ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ into the bedrooms of kids watching YouTube after school. They just can’t show a burger. The manipulation hasn’t stopped. It’s got smarter.”
The legislation, announced in the Queen’s Speech in June 2021 and due to take effect on 5 January 2026 after repeated delays, bans advertising of products high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm on television and online at all times. However, a brand exemption inserted after lobbying by the food industry allows companies to advertise logos, slogans, mascots and other imagery, provided no specific product appears.
Sharma says that exemption fundamentally weakens the policy. “From the moment we’re born, junk food marketing has us surrounded,” he said. “It’s forced down our throats. It’s the cultural wallpaper. This ban was supposed to rip that wallpaper down. Instead, we’ve peeled off one layer and left the rest.”
He describes how advertising followed him throughout the day while growing up. “It wasn’t just online,” said Sharma. “I’d see a fried chicken ad on Instagram at 3:15pm, right before the school bell rang. Then I’d walk out and see the same branding on the bus stop. They built a corridor of temptation from my classroom to my front door.”
Sharma launched his campaign from his bedroom in Leicester during lockdown, after becoming frustrated by junk food adverts interrupting his GCSE revision on YouTube. He created an open letter to then prime minister Boris Johnson, designed so that every signature automatically emailed Downing Street and the health secretary. The campaign gained tens of thousands of supporters and high-profile backing, including from chef Jamie Oliver, and led to Sharma meeting ministers.
“I was 16, trying to watch a maths tutorial on YouTube,” he said. “I couldn’t learn a quadratic equation without being interrupted by a burger ad. My phone knew I was hungry before I did.”
Now, six years on, Sharma says the same companies are using the same marketing techniques on a new generation of children. While government estimates suggest the restrictions will remove 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets each year, he argues brand advertising delivers the same commercial impact without breaching the rules.
“While the government celebrates removing 7.2 billion calories, McDonald’s is already running brand campaigns that do exactly what product ads did,” he said. “The golden arches are more recognisable to British kids than the England flag. You don’t need to show a Big Mac to sell one.”
Health organisations including the Obesity Health Alliance and Action on Salt have criticised the brand exemption, which was formalised through a statutory instrument, saying it leaves children exposed to persistent marketing pressures. Bite Back research suggests UK children are exposed to around 15 billion junk food adverts each year, while official figures show 22% of children are overweight or obese when starting primary school, rising to 36% by the time they leave.
Sharma, a founding member of Bite Back 2030 and a recipient of the Diana Award, is calling for an urgent review of the exemption within six months, with all loopholes closed by 2027.
“Children deserve protection that actually protects them,” he said. “Not a ban with a backdoor.”
