Public supports government intervention on diet, health and advertising
The public think we, as individuals, have the most responsibility for ensuring we lead healthy lives
- 86% believe responsibility for healthy living lies with the individual, 71% believe the government has a role to play
- There is majority support for having calories on menus and banning unhealthy food adverts before the watershed
In a new online survey by Ipsos, over 8 in 10 (86%) of Britons say individuals have a responsibility to make sure people live healthy lives, including 62% who say they have a great deal of responsibility. Seven in ten (71%) say the Government has a responsibility to encourage healthy living.
There is broad support for government intervention in tackling obesity but that varies depending on the specific measure. There is majority support for putting calories on menus and banning adverts for particularly unhealthy foods before the 9pm watershed.
Further to people believing that the government has a responsibility to make sure people lead healthy lives, the majority of people also believe that the Government has a responsibility to encourage people to lose weight to reduce the impact of COVID-19 amongst a host of measures that people believe that the Government should undertake.
Kelly Beaver, Managing Director of Public Affairs at Ipsos said:
- It is clear that people believe that Government has an important role to play in ensuring people lead healthy lives, which would support the government’s moves to address this. But there is less certainty about some of the measures that government might take to address the issue of obesity in society, with some measures garnering majority support but all of those polled having around 1 in 4 not having an opinion; suggesting the government has a way to go still, to convince people on the specific initiatives.
Technical note
- Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,069 British adults aged 18+. Interviews were conducted online from 21st - 24th August 2020. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
