TfL forced to remove strawberries and cream from Wimbledon advert after it fails to follow its own junk food rules

It is one of the British foods that immediately calls to mind Wimbledon and the beginning of summer - but the Mayor's office has had to ban its own adverts depicting strawberries and cream under its new anti "junk food" rules.

The new regulations, which came into force in late February, decree that adverts on the Tube cannot show "junk food". As well as burgers and sweets, this includes any food that is high in fat, salt and sugar.

Examples of banned foods include olive oil, jam, pesto, cheese, Marmite, tinned fruit and honey.

The new rules were welcomed by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

The strong new measures, endorsed by Sadiq Khan, has meant that seemingly innocuous foods have to be banned from adverts, according to documents revealed by theSpectator under FOI.

One such advert, on the District Line, depicted strawberries and cream as an advert for Wimbledon. 

A contractor for TfL wrote in an email about the redactions to adverts: "There are some strawberries and cream by Wimbledon. Can we just remove the cream?"

Also banned was a photograph of popcorn by Hampstead Heath station, and a picture of curry by Brick Lane.

Before Christmas, advertising executives at TfL were preparing for the ban, and redesigned a Christmas advert for Time Out Magazine because they thought the moon looked too much like a Christmas pudding. All cakes and biscuits are banned from advertisements under the new rules.

Christopher Snowdon, head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, who uncovered the advert bans, told The Telegraph: “This ban was sold to the public as a clamp down on junk food advertising.

"We can now see that it extends far beyond junk food and even includes non-food advertising. As a result, TfL has had to spend thousands of pounds airbrushing perfectly harmless images to comply with its own puritanical rules.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “The obesity epidemic costs the NHS billions of pounds every year and we all have a role to play in tackling it. We know that marketing can influence consumer choices which is why our policy to ensure that food and drink products advertised on the network are not high in fat, sugar and salt is an important part of the Mayor’s strategy to reduce childhood obesity. We are pleased others are now following our lead.

"TfL routinely updates marketing materials and undertook an audit of all assets to remove any HFSS products."

Food companies have previously hit out at the advertising ban, and argue that it extends to healthy food.

Earlier this year, grocery delivery service Farmdrop was barred from advertising its free-range butter, eggs and bacon on the Tube because of the new guidelines, and argued: "We were pretty shocked that a picture of some fresh groceries with a healthy mixture of fruits and vegetables, dairy, eggs and cupboard staples would flout TfL’s new junk food rules."