Six months ago, on January 5th 2026, the HFSS advertising legislation came into force, bringing significant uncertaintly for food and hospitality marketers.
So, now the dust has settled a little, what’s actually happened?
We’ve been working closely with hospitality brands through the changes, and after a few months of living with HFSS in mind, some interesting patterns have emerged. In this article, we’ve put together some of our biggest observations since the legislation began.
Let’s dig in.
First, a quick refresher on the legislation
The regulation placed restrictions on TV and paid online advertising of HFSS products (foods high in fat, salt, or sugar) – affecting digital channels like social media, search ads, display, and delivery platforms. The legislation was originally planned for October 2025 but was delayed and provided little clarity to advertisers right up until its rollout the following year.
In essence, it meant:
If a brand has over 250 employees and runs ads that directly promote HFSS products (pizza, burgers, desserts, etc.), it could fall under the ban. But with a key nuance - brand-only advertising is allowed, as long as the creative doesn’t reference or depict HFSS products directly.
Which means restaurants can still run ads like: “Family-friendly American diner.”
But probably shouldn’t run: “Home of the juiciest burgers.”
Observation #1: Big brands haven’t changed much
This is the slightly surprising one.
If you spend some time browsing paid ads across social platforms, you’ll notice that a lot of major food brands haven’t dramatically shifted their creative yet.
Some have shifted towards:
Brand-led storytelling
Lifestyle imagery
More generic food visuals
Broader brand campaigns
But many are still playing fairly close to the line.
It's possible that this is because:
The rules are still evolving
The Government’s enforcement methods aren’t clear yet
The definition of ‘identifiability’ is still somewhat open to interpretation.
For now, there seems to be a ‘wait and see’ approach from some of the bigger players.
Observation #2: Brand-led creative is actually performing better
Now for the part that surprised us. Across a number of our hospitality clients, brand-first creative has been outperforming product-led ads on paid social.
We’ve seen that instead of ‘£8 burger + chips” We’re seeing stronger results from things like:
Atmosphere
People enjoying the venue
Brand personality
Experience-led messaging
In other words, ads that feel like hospitality brands rather than menu listings. And let’s face it, in a world where people are seeing an average of 5,000 ads a day, standing out has never been more important.
This finding aligns with what the legislation indirectly encourages - focusing on brand assets, identity and experience, rather than individual HFSS products. It turns out that’s often better marketing anyway - who knew!
Observation #3: Creative quality matters more now
When you can’t lean on a mouth-watering slow-motion cheese pull, you have to get more creative. The brands doing well right now are focusing on:
Distinctive brand assets
Recognisable colours and design
Tone of voice
Storytelling
Community and experience
Think McDonald’s golden arches, or KFC’s Colonel.
These kinds of brand identifiers become incredibly powerful when product imagery becomes restricted and everyone has to quickly adapt.
If anything, HFSS is forcing hospitality brands to build stronger brand identities. Which, frankly, the industry has tended to be a bit lazy about in the past.
Observation #4: Early rulings are focusing on unexpected channels
When the first HFSS advertising rulings were published in April, many expected to see a fast-food giant penalised for promoting burgers or fries. Instead, two supermarkets - Lidl and Iceland - were two of the first brands caught by the new rules.
These cases highlighted the broad range of marketing activity affected by HFSS regulations. In Lidl's case, the issue wasn't a paid media campaign on a digital advertising platform, but a paid influencer partnership promoting bakery products. Whereas Iceland fell foul of the rules through a dynamic product feed used in Google Display Ads.
Iceland’s dynamic product feed ad which breached HFSS regulations (above) [Source: ASA]
The key takeaway: this isn’t the finished (HFSS) product
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that this legislation is still evolving.
Governments review these frameworks regularly. The way that they’re currently policing it could change overnight, and exemptions - like those for smaller businesses under 250 employees - could also change in the future.
Historically, regulations like this tend to start slightly vague and tighten over time, before becoming more clearly enforced. So while some brands may currently be pushing the boundaries, it would be risky to assume that’s a sustainable long-term strategy.
Our advice to hospitality brands
The brands that will thrive in a post-HFSS world are those that:
Invest in distinctive brand assets
Focus on experience over product
Build campaigns around identity, atmosphere and story
Stop relying solely on menu photography
In other words: the same brands that were probably going to win anyway.
HFSS might feel like a restriction, but in many ways, it’s forcing the hospitality industry to do something it should have been doing all along - building better brands with great stories.
In summary
If you work in hospitality marketing, HFSS probably felt like a looming storm a few months ago. Six months in, it’s less of an apocalypse and more of a slight adjustment - and in some cases, it’s making advertising better.
Still, if you’re facing challenges around HFSS, or anything in the world of digital advertising for your hospitality brand – reach out to the team at Pretty Pragmatic today. We’re experts in hospitality marketing, and we’re always open to meeting with others in the sector.
If you’re interested in reading more about the HFSS regulation, you can download our detailed guide below.