The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
Lidl's influencer posted a tray of pain suisse — the first UK junk-food ad ban fell on it
Lidl paid an influencer to promote its bakery on Instagram; the post showed a pain suisse. New UK rules made that a banned HFSS ad — among the first such bans.
Lidl · 2026-04
What happened
On 5 January 2026 the UK brought in new restrictions on advertising food high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS): such products could no longer be advertised on television before 9pm, and could not be promoted in paid-for online advertising at all, at any time. The rules, part of the government's effort to tackle childhood obesity, left a narrow gap — 'brand-led' marketing was still allowed, as long as no identifiable less-healthy product appeared.
Lidl Northern Ireland ran an Instagram post in partnership with a beauty and lifestyle influencer, Emma Kearney (known online as Baby Emzo), promoting Lidl's bakery range. The post featured a tray of pain suisse — a chocolate and cream pastry. Under the government's nutrient-profiling model, that made it a 'less healthy' product, and because the post was a paid-for online promotion, it fell squarely within the new ban.
On 15 April 2026 the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaint and banned the ad, ordering that it must not appear again in its current form and telling Lidl to keep HFSS products out of future digital marketing. Lidl said the campaign had been meant to be brand-led — which would have been permitted — but accepted that the advert had in fact promoted a banned individual product. Lidl and the supermarket Iceland, banned the same day for an online confectionery ad, became the first retailers to fall foul of the new rules.
Why it happened
- The rules permitted 'brand-led' marketing but banned any paid online promotion of an identifiable HFSS product; the line between the two was a single visible pastry.
- Using an influencer did not move the post outside the rules — a paid partnership is a paid-for online ad, and the brand, not the influencer, answers to the regulator for it.
- Lidl read the campaign as brand marketing; the ASA judged it by what was actually in the frame, and an identifiable pain suisse made it a product ad.
- The HFSS regime was new and untested, so the first cases were bound to draw a public line — being the first retailer banned meant the lesson was learned in public.
The lesson
Under HFSS rules, 'brand-led' is safe only while no less-healthy product is identifiable. Put a pain suisse in frame and a brand post becomes a banned ad. The influencer's post is the brand's ad.
Aftermath
The ASA told Lidl and Iceland their ads must not appear again in that form and that future digital marketing must keep clear of HFSS products. No financial penalty was reported — the cost was the ban and the distinction of being the first retailers caught under the regime. The rulings were read across the grocery sector as a warning shot: with the online HFSS ban in force, any paid promotion — a banner, a partnership, an influencer's post — that lets an identifiable less-healthy product into the frame is a banned ad, and 'we meant it as brand-led' is no defence once the product is visible.
Sources
- Retail Gazette: Lidl and Iceland become first retailers to have ads banned under new junk-food rules
- Scottish Legal: Lidl and Iceland ads banned under new junk-food rules (influencer, pain suisse)
- Yahoo News UK: Watchdog bans first ads under new 'less healthy' food rules
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