Navigating the UK’s New Food & Drink Advertising Regulations: Opportunity Unleashed

The landscape for food and drink advertising in the UK is undergoing a significant transformation, with new legislation set to reshape how “less healthy” products can be marketed. The intention is to reduce children’s exposure to commercial messages for ‘less healthy food and drink (LHFD) products. While the full regulation comes into effect from January 5, 2026, a crucial voluntary “soft launch” begins on October 1, 2025. This marks a major shift, particularly for paid online advertisements, including influencer content, which will be banned for less healthy products, and traditional marketing channels facing new restrictions.

These impending rules necessitate a fundamental rethink of PR and influencer strategies for affected brands to ensure compliance while maintaining strong consumer connections. At Citizen, we see this not just as a challenge, but as a powerful opportunity for genuine storytelling and strategic innovation. It’s a chance for brands to adapt, evolve, and future-proof their communications.

Helping Brands Thrive in the New Regulatory Environment

Citizen specialises in authentic influencer campaigns and media strategies, turning these regulatory challenges into opportunities for impactful communication and deeper consumer engagement. Here are four key ways we are guiding brands to navigate these new rules and build compelling strategies that work:

1. Lean into Brand-Led PR

The new regulations present a prime opportunity to shift focus towards brand-led public relations. Instead of directly promoting specific “less healthy” products in restricted channels, brands can leverage PR to articulate their core values, highlight broader compliant product ranges, and build a positive brand image. This approach ensures communications remain compliant while fostering authentic connections with consumers through overarching brand narratives.

2. Master New Channels & Owned Media

With restrictions on traditional and paid online advertising for certain products, exploring and optimising new content channels becomes paramount. Citizen helps brands master organic social media, experiential marketing, and audio content. We also guide brands in transforming their owned media channels into an “algorithm-ready content library,” enabling them to capture attention, build trust, and establish a strong reputation through AI-first content. This strategy ensures that brands can continue to engage audiences effectively and compliantly.

3. Evolve Influencer Partnerships

The days of simple paid posts for “less healthy” products are giving way to a more sophisticated approach. Citizen is working with brands to evolve their influencer partnerships beyond transactional paid posts. We focus on fostering co-created narratives that resonate on a deeper level, building genuine connections with audiences through authentic storytelling. This shift ensures that influencer collaborations remain effective and compliant with the new advertising restrictions.

4. Maximise brand discovery

Create AI-first content that wins attention, trust and creates a reputation shield. Brands must adapt and innovate to win attention and trust in a world where perception is reality and where people are increasingly finding brand information via algorithmic summaries, AI-generated overviews, and zero-click search experiences. We are helping brands implement generative engine optimisation (GEO) to maximise discoverability to ensure your brand is surfaced, cited and trusted within AI outputs.

These new regulations are a call to action for food and drink brands to innovate and adapt their marketing strategies. It’s critical to communicate expertise and readiness by highlighting compliant solutions, owned-channel activity, and brand-first storytelling.

Connect with Citizen for expert advice on future-proofing your communications and creating a compelling playbook for this evolving landscape. Our team is ready to help you transform these new rules into a competitive advantage.