Our Campaign Has Won A Sheila McKechnie Award!

We have been named winner of the 2025 Sheila McKechnie Award for Best Consumer Campaign, recognising the powerful impact of our #CommercialBreak campaign — a bold, youth-led push to kick junk food ads out of public spaces and reclaim them for young people.

The win caps off a year-long journey that began with a striking idea: “What if we used Junk Food Giants’ tactics against them, by beating them to ad spaces to tell a different story — one about health, fairness, and children’s rights?”

From that spark, a full campaign was born. Launched in summer 2024, the #CommercialBreak campaign saw Bite Back youth activists buy up outdoor ad spots across the country, filling them with powerful messages calling out the relentless marketing of unhealthy food to young people.

The concept was simple: “We’ve bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn’t – we’re giving kids a commercial break.” But the execution and the response were anything but. The campaign drove national conversation.

Over the past 12 months, Bite Back’s youth team have taken the message into schools, to councils, and into Westminster, helping inspire local action and influencing national policy discussions on junk food marketing and children’s health.

The campaign has been backed by a groundswell of public support, influencers, and expert voices, but at its heart has always been the leadership of young people speaking truth to power.

Destiny, a Bite Back youth activist, said:

“We started with one idea — to block junk food ads and give kids a commercial break — but we’ve ended up making history.

“With my campaigning and studies, I have been able to visit a lot of town centres — meeting new people, grabbing food, going shopping. It’s clear: in most cities across the UK, everywhere you turn there’s another ad pushing junk food. It feels like a full-on bombardment. You’re just trying to get through the day, and there it is again — another reminder to buy stuff that’s bad for your health,” Destiny explained.

She added: “That’s why it’s been amazing to see some councils — recently in Bedford and Kingston — starting to take this seriously and putting public health first. We’re hearing some encouraging noises from more local leaders, parents, MPs and members of the public, who want to do the same — and I’d love to see that momentum grow. But they can’t do it alone. The government needs to step in with proper support, especially for councils, and provide clear rules so that young people are protected, wherever they live. We’ll keep pushing until that happens.”

The Sheila McKechnie Awards celebrate campaigners making a difference in communities across the UK. Our win in the consumer category reflects not only the originality of the #CommercialBreak campaign, but its real-world influence in challenging corporate power and promoting a healthier, fairer food system for the next generation.

Nicki Whiteman, Interim CEO of Bite Back, said:

“This campaign proves what happens when you amplify the voices of young people. We couldn’t be prouder of what our youth activists have achieved — with this campaign, we have truly begun opening eyes to the influence the world around us has on health. This award is for every single young person who dared to speak out.”

TAKE ACTION

We’ve taken over Big Food’s ad spaces, and now we’re going straight into their boardrooms. We need your help to make our voice louder as we call on the biggest culprit on our streets: McDonald’s.

Our latest report reveals McDonald’s is the biggest culprit for surrounding young people with ads — and almost all (97%) of its ads were for unhealthy products!

It’s time for change. Sign our petition, and tell McDonald’s: stop targeting junk food ads at young people. Help make the message too loud to ignore!