The generation advertising can't sweet-talk

New year, new laws. It's the week the industry has been preparing for: the official ban on junk food advertising before 9pm takes effect. The new HFSS regulations aren't just a line in government policy; they mark a cultural reset. For the first time in modern advertising, a generation will grow up without being targeted by the seductive storytelling of sugary, salty, fatty foods.

The UK's new HFSS advertising restrictions fully take effect, with a 9pm watershed on TV ads and a total ban on paid-for online promotions for "less healthy" food and drink, the impact won't be loud or immediate. Kids won't notice fewer cartoon mascots or glossy food-porn spots, but eventually their emotional and behavioural patterns will quietly shift.

And that shift changes everything for marketers.

The end of indulgence as a shortcut

For decades, food marketing has traded in fantasy, nostalgia, indulgence, and the comfort of "you've earned it." We've sold sweetness as self-care and sugar as celebration, wrapped in slow-motion drips, glossy burger close-ups, and impossible perfection. But the old emotional shortcuts are disappearing, and what replaces them will define how the next generation connects with food. This festive season did feel a little quieter, more 'demure'.

For years, festive advertising has wrapped indulgence in emotion, golden turkeys and overflowing puddings, families framed in warm light, as the soundtrack swells. This year, we saw more emotional connections, more community, and less pudding.

But as HFSS regulations take hold, the traditional language used in all food advertising will face new creative constraints. Expect brands to lean into togetherness, generosity, and ritual rather than indulgence; to show that joy can feel rich even when the food doesn't. The future of food communication will reinvent "treat culture" and rely more on curiosity. Brands that want to connect with tomorrow's consumers will have to offer something more nourishing, both emotionally and nutritionally.

The most successful food brands won't be those that shout the loudest, but those that teach, play, and inspire. Brands that turn food into experience, and as the visual vocabulary of indulgence fades, creativity must work harder to earn emotion.

At first, the change will feel invisible - research from Leeds University found that when supermarkets reduced HFSS placements, shoppers didn't notice. Yet, HFSS sales still dropped by two million items a day. Behaviour changes quietly when the cues disappear.

Invisible change, lasting impact

Children, too, will be subtly influenced by fewer in-store prompts and a rebalanced media landscape. Fewer sugary signals in their world will mean fewer impulsive habits and more space for mindful ones to grow.

For marketers, that opens up a new creative frontier: connecting through experience, play, education, or storytelling that celebrates curiosity. This is where the creative industry comes in. HFSS isn't the death of marketing, but an opportunity for brands to think smarter and work harder in this category.

It's a call for brands to re-evaluate their tone, their role, and their cultural contribution. Hospitality brands like Nando's are already shifting how they speak, reframing the removal of free refills as a positive, health-first change rather than a loss of fun. It's a small but powerful signal that transparency and progress can live comfortably alongside joy and flavour.

For agencies, this is a creative and strategic responsibility. The job now is to help brands rethink how they show up through repositioned messaging, a reset of owned-channel strategies, and an exploration of new targeting tactics.

What replaces the sugar rush

This is a massive opportunity to help brands build consumer trust through healthy product messaging and to support some with a shift to bigger, brand-led strategies - whatever the next step, agencies need to encourage clients to use these new rules as an opportunity to behave differently and thrive creatively.

The next generation will remember fewer jingles about chocolate bars and more stories about curiosity, balance, and joy. The brands that grow with them will be those that feel emotionally honest, that teach, entertain, and empower rather than just sell.

When the sugar rush of advertising fades, what's left has to mean something. The new regulations require brands to grow up alongside their audience, replacing manipulation with meaning and excess with intention.

The next era of food marketing will be defined not by what brands are no longer allowed to say, but by what they choose to say instead. Those who embrace this moment with creativity, responsibility, and emotional honesty won't just survive the change; they'll help shape a healthier, more thoughtful relationship with food and prove that constraint, when handled well, can be the most powerful creative catalyst of all.