A Commercial Break

Every year, UK children are exposed to 15 billion junk food ads online. We’re surrounded by junk, everywhere from our high streets to our screens. For too long, Food Giants have been putting their profits over our children’s health. 1/3 now leave Primary School at risk of future food-related illnesses. Bite Back's young campaigners are fighting back - using Junk Food Giants’ tactics against them.

During 2024's school summer holidays, we launched a powerful anti-advertising campaign to expose these tactics and take back control of the narrative. We needed to shift parents' mindsets onto the food environment's role in shaping health and away from the blame companies place on consumers and. Our objective was to create what we call 'penny drop moments'. That's why our cross-channel media plan hijacked placements used by Food Giants to reach families over the break, from vast billboards to unskippable Youtube ads. Our message was clear: “YOUNG ACTIVISTS BOUGHT THIS AD SPACE SO THAT JUNK FOOD GIANTS COULDN’T - WE'RE GIVING KIDS A COMMERCIAL BREAK”. We delivered more than awareness—we delivered change. In our surveys, 89% of campaign viewers acknowledged the role of the food environment in shaping health, a huge 65% uplift. Across the 1.1 million viewers, this represents groundbreaking success in reclaiming the narrative of children’s health at scale. Following the campaign the government even committed to enforcing a watershed on junk food ads! With this success, we’ve created a blueprint for empowering youth to rewrite the narrative and deliver real change.