A young campaigner from Bedford has welcomed Bedford Borough Council’s decision to ban “products linked to poor health” in council-owned spaces, calling the policy a “major win” for young people.
15-year-old Anidunnu, a youth campaigner with Bite Back, recently attended a council policy meeting and called the decision a “direct response to growing calls for action to combat commercial pressures from big food businesses on children”.
Bedford Borough Council recently announced that “products linked to poor health”, including alcohol, gambling, and vaping will be banned from council-owned spaces, with local Green councillors wanting adverts linked to fossil fuels added to the list.
Read: New policy sees “products linked to poor health” banned from council spaces
The policy also includes junk food and high-fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS foods), which are key targets for the Bite Back campaign group.
Bite Back is a youth-led movement campaigning for changes to the way unhealthy foods are made, marketed, and sold, especially to children.
“This decision is proof that young people’s voices are being heard”, said Anidunnu.
“The councillors and decision-makers in Bedford have made the right call to protect my generation. Junk food advertising targets us every day, but this shows that protecting our health is finally being taken seriously.
“When you live here, you see it every day. There are fast food adverts everywhere.”
Bite Back says over a third of 10 and 11-year-olds leave primary school at risk of food-related ill-health in their future, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease, in part due to a constant exposure to unhealthy food marketing.
But while the campaign group have called Bedford’s decision “bold”, they also say local councils cannot act alone.
Bite Back has secured billboards across London to block junk food adverts.
The charity placed 365 billboards – one for each day of the year – in high-traffic areas across the capital’s Lambeth and Southwark boroughs, including London Bridge station, with one clear message:
“We’ve bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn’t – we’re giving kids a commercial break.”
Flip the script
Bite Back’s analysis of advertising spend data showed food and drink companies spent over £400 million on street advertising in 2024 alone.
The top 10 spenders included McDonald’s, PepsiCo, KFC, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez and Red Bull.
Research from Bite Back and the University of Liverpool further underscores the “saturation” of advertising.
The study, which analysed 859 adverts in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle, found that 57% of food and drink adverts were for HFSS products, and these were more common in deprived areas, compounding inequality.
And Anidunnu is just one young person who has had enough.
“On the way to school, at the bus stop, outside the shop. It’s like big food companies have a louder voice than our communities do.
“That’s why I joined Bite Back, because we’re flipping the script. We’re showing that young people aren’t just targets, we’re the ones fighting back.”
You can find out more about Bite Back’s work here.
