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More ad-free spaces coming soon
Thanks to our wonderful supporters, many more streets around the UK could see a reduction in harmful adverts in the coming years. In response to our call-out ahead of the local elections earlier this month, hundreds of you contacted your election candidates asking them to sign the Adfree Cities pledge to introduce healthier advertising policies and to block new adverts from being installed.
Here’s what you helped make happen:
- 79 candidates from across political parties signed the pledge, from Sheffield to Southwark, Birmingham to Barnet
- Of these, 40 candidates were elected
- 12 local authorities now have councillors committed to reducing harmful outdoor advertising
What happens next?
We will continue to hold regular meetings with interested councillors and council officers around the UK, and offer case studies, research and resources to support newly elected councillors to introduce healthier advertising policies, and better planning controls to stop new ads being put up.
A growing movement
Energised by the recent news from Amsterdam, where the city’s ban on outdoor adverts for fossil fuel products and meat products has recently come into force, we’re seeing a much greater interest in similar measures here in the UK.
If you’d like to know more about what local councils can do, get campaigning for ad-free spaces where you live, or get support from Adfree Cities, then head to our website now or drop us a message at hello [at] adfreecities.org.uk.
Range Rover at the Chelsea Flower Show?
Maybe the Royal Horticultural Society misunderstood the term ‘Chelsea Tractor’, but the choice of Range Rover as the headline sponsor of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show feels less green fingers and more greenwash. The sponsorship deal was supposed to promote Range Rover’s new electric SUV, but this conveniently forgets that Range Rover makes some of the UK’s most polluting cars, and as recently as last year Range Rover’s parent company, JLR, was lobbying against the UK’s flagship electric vehicle policy.
Sponsorship is a form of advertising, and we don’t think popular cultural events should be billboards for big polluters.
What you can do
- Tell the RHS to drop Range Rover as a sponsor. Use this quick and easy feedback form to send the message: no SUVs at the Chelsea Flower Show!
- Like and share our video on social media calling out the greenwash.
Outdoor adverts and liver disease
Two years ago we published our Unavoidable Impact report which showed for the very first time how the location of outdoor advertising is linked to markers of deprivation such as income and air pollution. Now, a new study from Leeds suggests a link between cases of liver disease – which is highly associated with consumption of alcohol and unhealthy foods – and exposure to outdoor ads for those products.
This is a significant result, connecting the dots between outdoor advertising and a concrete health issue, and further strengthening the case for restrictions on adverts for alcohol and unhealthy foods.
- Find out more about our research on the harms of outdoor advertising here.
Welcome to our new team member, Mair
We are thrilled to welcome a new staff member to the Adfree Cities team. Mair Floyd-Bosley joins us as our Big Oil Creative Campaigner in which role she will challenge the influence of the world’s biggest polluters and their advertisers. Mair has a track record of successful environmental campaigning with leading organisations including RSPB and UK Youth 4 Nature, as well as grassroots climate groups.
Mair has waisted no time getting stuck into her work, starting with this blog post on our long journey to ban fossil fuel adverts on the Transport for London network. Read the full article here.
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