Why Online Marketing Regulation Must Catch Up to Protect Young People’s Health
The impact of screen time on young people is gaining media and political attention and rightly so, with the online space exposing children to a vast world of harmful content.
A major component of that exposure is marketing content such as adverts and the often less transparent sponsored influencer posts. In theory, regulating this content should be simple. Products like cigarettes, vapes, and alcohol are all subject to age of sale restrictions. Tobacco advertising is completely banned while existing rules from the Advertising Standards Authority are meant to protect children from vape and alcohol marketing along with ads for products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS). Children should not be seeing them. Yet they are.
New findings from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) reveal the scale of the problem:
- 1 in 5 young people on social media reported seeing cigarette-related business posts, and 1 in 4 saw similar content from influencers.
- Almost 1 in 3 saw vape-related content from businesses, and nearly 4 in 10 from influencers - particularly among those who had already vaped. Many of these posts failed to carry even the mandatory nicotine warning.
- More than half saw promotions for HFSS products, including through influencer marketing.
- Over a third (36%) reported seeing alcohol-related posts from businesses, and similar levels from influencers - again, with higher exposure among those who had drunk alcohol before.
Three things unite these trends:
- Child-appealing marketing tactics on vapes, alcohol and unhealthy food and drinks: From cartoonish branding to fun flavours and bright colours, these products are being made to look enticing to young people.
- Large powerful industries making and marketing these products: These are deliberate marketing strategies by large companies shaping health behaviours and lobbying against efforts to bring in tougher regulations.
- A failing regulatory system: Despite rules supposedly in place, enforcement is weak. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) operates a complaints-based system that does not reflect how algorithm-driven platforms actually work, and even its own data confirms high levels of youth exposure to restricted content.
Faced with this failure, the government is taking action - at least in part. A total online ban on paid advertising for less healthy food and drink will come in next year (after several delays), acknowledging that online age verification is unreliable, and that voluntary regulation has not worked. Tobacco ads are already banned, with further measures included in the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill to restrict marketing of nicotine products.
But alcohol remains a glaring exception. Despite being age-restricted and linked to long-term health harms, there are no plans to meaningfully restrict its online promotion, even as evidence shows the effectiveness and scale of marketing at driving sales and consumption. This inconsistency undermines the credibility and effectiveness of public health regulation.
What needs to happen
To ensure children are properly protected online, government must:
- Enact the Less Healthy advertising ban without further delay.
- Pass the Tobacco and Vapes Bill as soon as possible to strengthen safeguards.
- Bring in robust regulations to restrict alcohol advertising in line with other harmful, age-restricted products.
The principle is simple: if a product is harmful enough to be restricted for sale to children, it should not be marketed to them, online or anywhere else.