In a move that has been much awaited by anti-obesity campaigners the television and communications watchdog of the UK government OFCOM has set down some guidelines for the advertising of junk food to children. Doctors, nutritionists and all people who say that the relentless advertising of unhealthy food to children is partly to blame for the obesity problem in the UK have welcomed the news.

The way that the rules will work is that the junk food adverts will be banned from being shown during and around the most watched and popular TV shows that children watch. So for example any TV program that is on from teatime right up to when Hollyoaks, Friends and The Simpsons will have no junk food adverts around it.

 The ban will cover the advertising of all foodstuffs that have a big amount of fat, salt or sugar in them. The idea is that any TV program in which the likely audience is over 20% more than the average number of children or young teenagers will have a junk food ban on it.

Two programs that made it past the ban are Coronation Street and The X-Factor but the latter is said to be just borderline and OFCOM may change their mind on that one.

TV programmers warned that this advertising ban could mean less children’s TV and a poor quality of film content and they also said that there is scant evidence that the advertising of junk food has any effect on adults and children being obese as even by OFCOM’s admission, adverts only have A 2% influence on the preference for food.

OFCOM did say however that their new rules were justified because TV could have a “meaningful indirect effect” on the lifestyles of children. Some people and organisations said the ban was not good enough and should have been extended to all TV before 9pm.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association said that we must put the health of children before the revenues from adverts.