Cancer Council Wants Junk Food Ads to Kids Regulated. Food Marketers Should Plan for It.

Cancer Council Australia and a coalition of public health groups are pushing the government to regulate junk food marketing to children, and food and beverage advertisers should plan for it rather than bet against it.

The call follows a Preventive Health Roundtable convened by independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps, after which the groups released a joint statement seeking legislation to cut children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing. The proposed measures reach across online platforms, social media, gaming, sports sponsorships and retail settings, not just television. Advocates argue voluntary industry codes have failed and that comprehensive rules are both workable and effective. They point to health data showing one in four Australian children and adolescents aged 2 to 17 lives with overweight or obesity, and Cancer Council estimates overweight contributes to more than 5,200 cancer cases a year.

This lands alongside the gambling ad reforms already moving through parliament. The direction on advertising restrictions in Australia is one way.

If you market food, beverage or quick-service brands in Australia, the channels you rely on to reach families, social, gaming, sponsorship and retail media, are exactly the ones in scope. Regulation rarely arrives overnight, but the groundwork is being laid now. Brands that wait for the law to change will scramble. Brands that read the signal will have reworked their approach and their targeting before they are forced to.

Australia is tightening the rules on who advertising can target and how. For food marketers, the smart move is to change before the change is mandatory.