Our award-winning billboard campaign calling out the practice of advertising junk food to children, has been effectively silenced by the advertising industry after being rejected by two of the UK’s biggest outdoor advertising companies — JCDecaux and Global.

Our message was simple: “We’ve bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn’t – we’re giving kids a commercial break.”

But it seems the message hit too close to home. In what Bite Back's activists are calling “outright censorship,” JCDecaux and Global have now pulled the campaign, months after giving initial approval.

JCDecaux’s reversal came just days before our ads were due to launch, despite the campaign being fully compliant with rules set by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). This makes it near-impossible for us to access outdoor space, while ads for brands like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Cadbury remain plastered across the country.

The block comes just days after the same campaign was awarded the prestigious Sheila McKechnie Best Consumer Campaign award in recognition of the power of our direct challenge to Big Food.

17-year-old Farid, from Manchester, a Bite Back youth activist and campaign spokesperson, said:

“I can’t believe we’ve just collected an award for our work — and already the industry is trying to silence us. It’s frustrating. But also revealing. We broke no rules or regulations. If they didn’t think our message mattered, they wouldn’t try so hard to keep it out of sight.

“As young campaigners, we operate on a tiny fraction of what junk food giants have to spend on outdoor advertising — but we’re making a powerful point. Our campaign is bold, standing up to the biggest players in the food system with truth and courage. The changes we’re calling for are about more than just ads — they’re about holding junk food companies accountable for how their marketing harms children’s health, and shifting the balance of power away from industry and towards policies that actually prioritise young people.”

In April, we launched our #CommercialBreak campaign, taking over South London on-street ad sites with the message: “Young Activists Bought This Ad Space So Junk Food Giants Couldn’t.” Now, the same campaign has been shut out of UK ad platforms. Although it passed all regulatory checks with the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), media owners have issued blanket refusals due to what they deem ‘political messaging’.

Together, Global and JCDecaux — two of the UK’s advertising giants — are estimated to control around 70% of the country’s digital outdoor ad impressions, making their decisions hugely influential over what the public sees.

Nicki Whiteman, Interim CEO of Bite Back, said: “It is increasingly clear that there are industry actors who want to silence youth voices and censor kids from sharing their experiences of advertising bombardment. These refusals feel less like coincidence and more like an industry that wants to conceal the role it plays in harming children’s health. When our ads are blocked and junk food ads are not, it’s clear who gets the microphone.”

We have long campaigned for the removal of junk food ads from public spaces, citing their direct link to food-related illness. Right now, over a third of 10/11-year-olds leave primary school in England 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.

Some food and drink brands are stepping up to show support for our mission, recognising that young people deserve better than a daily diet of junk food marketing. Alex Wright, CEO of DASH Water, said:

“At DASH, we’re proud to support Bite Back and their bold campaign against junk food marketing. The fact that they’ve just won the Sheila McKechnie Award speaks volumes — young people deserve better than a constant stream of adverts that put profits before their health. We’ve never shied away from challenging the lack of transparency in food and drink advertising, and it’s inspiring to see the next generation taking a stand too.”

We're calling on the Government to reign in the immense power and lobbying pressures of these food giants.

Our research, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, further underscores this need. A joint study which analysed adverts in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle, found that 57% of food and drink ads were for unhealthy products, and these were more common in deprived areas, compounding inequality.

Additionally, our analysis of Nielsen ad spend data showed that in 2024, food and drink companies spent over £400 million on street advertising. The top 10 spenders included McDonald’s, PepsiCo, KFC, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez and Red Bull.

For more information, interview opportunities, videos and photography: Henry Makiwa (henry.makiwa@biteback2030.com / 07523681057) and/or Lola Campbell (lola.campbell@biteback2030.com / 07038603389)