Advertising shapes the cultural and material experience of our lives, stimulating consumption, requiring production, causing pollution, with ensuing consequences to the health of our environment and our bodies. 

Advertising in the UK was responsible for 208 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022 – 32% of the emissions of every single person in this country. This is down to the uplift in sales generated by advertising, particularly for the most polluting products such as flights, cars, and meat and dairy.

Alongside polluting our planet, advertising pollutes our bodies, increasing our consumption of foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS). According to Sustain, £142 million is spent each year on advertising HFSS products, creating demand while entrenching an epidemic of nutrition-related illnesses, including obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

The good news? Councils have the powers to impose restrictions on harmful advertising content, and we can lobby our councillors for change. Local residents can also help block new digital billboards, as individuals or with our UK-wide network of Adblock groups.

If you would like to write to your council, model letters for ethical and low carbon advertising policies can be found below. You can find the contact details of your local councillors and representatives either on your council website or at www.WriteToThem.com.

Healthier Advertising Policies

You can ask your council to create an Advertising Policy to govern the content of advertising sites within its control (e.g bus stops and billboards on council land). This could include a ban on content that harms our own health and wellbeing, and that damages the health of our planet. This ranges from gambling, payday loans, alcohol, vaping and ‘junk’ food, to promotions from polluting industries such as airlines and car manufacturers, to advertising of meat and dairy.

Success stories: healthier ad policies

A ban on HFSS advertising across the Transport for London network has reduced purchasing of unhealthy food and drinks, reduced cases of obesity and is expected to save the NHS £200 million.

Local residents, food charity Sustain, councillors and Adblock Bristol succeeded in asking Bristol City Council to ban harmful advertising content. After determined lobbying, the council included a ban on ads for ‘junk’ food, alcohol, gambling, payday loans and adverts in parks in a new Advertising and Sponsorship Policy. Bristol became the first council outside London to remove junk food ads, followed by Barnsley and Cambridgeshire County. Many other councils have restrictions on gambling and payday loan advertising, from Coventry to Torbay.

Resources

Resources to equip you with evidence and support your councillors to make policy change happen.

Low Carbon Advertising Policies

You can ask your council to create an Advertising Policy to govern the content of advertising sites within its control (e.g bus stops and billboards on council land). This could include a ban on content that harms our own health and wellbeing, and that damages the health of our planet. This ranges from gambling, payday loans, alcohol, vaping and ‘junk’ food, to promotions from polluting industries such as airlines and car manufacturers, to advertising for meat and dairy.

Success stories: low carbon ad policies

Adopting ‘Low Carbon Advertising Policies’ and other anti-advertising measures can form part of councils’ efforts towards lowering emissions and reaching net zero goals. Liverpool City Council passed a motion banning high carbon advertising (ads for fossil fuels, cars, airlines and airports) in January 2021, and were followed by North Somerset and Norwich. In Cambridgeshire, a ban on advertising for fossil fuels is now council policy; as in Coventry City Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Most recently, Somerset Council has implemented an advertising exclusions policy that excludes a comprehensive range of high-carbon products and services, including airlines, airports, flights; petrol, diesel and hybrid cars; and fossil fuel companies.

Resources

Resources to equip you with evidence and support your council to make policy change happen.

  • The Badvertising campaign has a page to help you write to your local councillors to ask them to adopt a ‘Low Carbon Advertising Policy’. Their ‘Toolkit for Local Policymakers‘  provides details of what powers councils have relating to advertising, a model motion, and FAQs. 
  • Share this legal advice with your council. It provides template policies and legal advice to support them to introduce a policy banning high-carbon ads.
  • If you or your councillors have further questions about how a ban on advertising for high-carbon goods and services might work, check out this background paper.

Template letter: Write to your local councillors to introduce an ‘ethical’ ad policy

If you just want to write to councillors about adopting a Low Carbon Advertising Policy you can use the Badvertising link above.

If you want to write to them about introducing a more wide ranging advertising policy, there is a model letter below. All you need to do is:

  1. Complete all the text in purple:
  • Check if your council has declared a climate emergency. If it hasn’t, insert something else positive it’s said or done about climate change.
  • Check if your council has restricted junk food ads. If they have amend the text to reflect this.

2. Email the letter to your mayor and/or local councillors. It is also good to copy in the councillors responsible for climate/environment issues and health and wellbeing, if they have them.

3. If you get a reply and want help discussing policy with your council or to arrange a meeting with us and other experts, email hello[~at~]adfreecities.org.uk

Contact us if you’d like support in asking your council for change.

Template email to councillors (to copy + paste)

To: your Mayor/Councillors
Subject: Adopting an advertising policy

Dear [Mayor/Councillor name],

Re: [Council name] adopting a climate and harmful products advertising policy

As a [Council name] resident concerned about the impact of outdoor advertising and climate change, I congratulate the Council for declaring a climate emergency in 201X.

In line with recent government decisions to restrict advertising for unhealthy foods, I am writing to propose the Council adopt a policy restricting advertising for products that can be harmful to mental or physical health and the environment, such as foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS), gambling, payday loans and alcohol. I also urge the council to similarly curb advertising for products most responsible for climate breakdown.

Advertising plays a key role in the climate crisis by fuelling demand for high carbon products such as SUVs, airline flights, meat and dairy, and fossil fuel companies. Many of the companies most responsible for climate change are also actively involved in ‘greenwashing’ – intentionally misleading the public about the harm their products cause to people’s health and the planet.

Advertising that promotes HFSS foods encourages unhealthy eating, in direct contradiction to council-led healthy eating programmes. HFSS foods contribute to childhood obesity and other health problems, and have been linked to a risk of depression and anxiety in adolescents.

A Healthier and Low Carbon Advertising policy has precedence: Bristol City Council have implemented an Advertising and Sponsorship Policy that restricts harmful advertising, including for unhealthy foods, gambling, alcohol and payday loans. A ban on ‘junk’ food advertising across the TfL network has successfully lowered consumption of unhealthy foods and associated illness. Cambridgeshire County Council has restricted adverts for fossil fuels in their advertising policy, as have Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Coventry City Council. Somerset Council has implemented an Advertising Exclusions Policy on its highways that excludes a comprehensive range of polluting advertising, including flights, fossil fuel companies and petrol, diesel and hybrid cars. Recent legal advice supports councils in taking this step.

[Council name] has the opportunity to show progressive national leadership by becoming one of the UK’s first local authorities to adopt a similar ban on all adverts that are harmful to its residents.

The UK’s climate authority, the Climate Change Committee has highlighted this leadership role that local governments should play, if the UK is to achieve its Net Zero ambitions, in its report, Local Authorities and Sixth Carbon Budget (Dec 2020):

“Local authorities also play a wider enabling and communications role, engaging communities, public sector and business partners in area-wide conversations and about climate change and the route to Net Zero…. This wider leadership role can influence local people and businesses to take action themselves.”

I am a supporter of the Adfree Cities campaign who are working with councils across the country on these policies, and would be happy to facilitate a meeting or provide more information as to how such a policy could be implemented.

Many thanks for your time.

Yours sincerely,
[Name]
[Your Postcode] (it’s important to add your postcode so that the local representatives know you live in their ward/local area)

Template letter: Write to your local councillors to reduce ad screens

You can find the contact details of your local councillors and representatives either on your council website or at www.WriteToThem.com   

You can either send this letter by email or by post. If you are sending it by post the briefing for councils on Limiting Harmful Outdoor Advertising can be found to download and print here. 

All you need to do is:

  1.  Update/change the PURPLE text and personalise the letter in any way you want e.g. talking about any ad sites local to you and the impact they have on you.

2. Email the letter to your mayor and/or local councillors. It is also good to copy in the councillors responsible for planning, climate/environment issues and health and wellbeing, if they have them.

3. If you get a reply and want help discussing policy with your council or to arrange a meeting with us and other experts, email hello[~at~]adfreecities.org.uk

Contact us if you’d like support in asking your council for change.

Template email to councillors (to copy + paste)

To: your Mayor/Councillors
Subject: Please support limiting the impact of outdoor advertising in our local area

Dear [Mayor/Councillor name],

Re: Limiting the impact of digital outdoor advertising in [LOCAL AREA NAME]

I am contacting you as a local resident concerned about the increase in digital outdoor advertising. I am seeking your support for measures to limit the impact that new digital advertising screens is having on me and other local people, as well as biodiversity and the environment. 

In recent years, you may have noticed that there has been a big increase in applications for digital billboards here. Digital advertising screens are subject to the same planning legislation as older paper billboards, but they are much worse for our health and the climate, and they change the look and feel of our local area in a substantial way.

I find that digital screens are bright and  extremely intrusive. They show a new advert every 10 seconds, meaning that they add a commercial feel, to an even greater extent than paper billboards, and are more distracting to drivers and other road users, making them a huge safety risk (especially larger screens placed by busy roads) which concerns me greatly. The energy use associated with these screens is also unacceptable given the environmental emergency and the council’s climate goals.

I don’t want to see any new digital screens in [NAME OF AREA], and I want to reclaim our public space from existing billboards. They cause a detrimental material change to the look and feel of the city, for all those that live, work and visit here, as well as for wildlife – changing the face of [NAME OF PLACE].

One issue is that currently, new applications are hidden within the council Planning Portal. There is no requirement to notify directly affected local residents, even though when residents become aware of planning applications for new advertising billboards, there is usually strong opposition. 

Will you support [NAME OF COUNCIL] to take some specific measures to tackle this?:

– Will you ask the Planning Department to remove any existing advertising billboards or screens that do not have planning permission?

– Will you support the council to make applications for new digital screens visible to local residents, for example by announcements on social media, and/or by a requirement to advertisers that they must notify in writing all nearest neighbours to inform them of the proposed development? 

– Will you support the council adopting a specific planning policy on digital outdoor advertising to acknowledge the harm it causes and indicate that current planning legislation and process is not fit for purpose? 

This could take the form of a presumption against planning applications for digital billboards on the grounds of carbon emissions, light pollution, impact on biodiversity, road safety, and impact on local residents. A useful parallel here is Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s presumption against planning applications for fracking. A No New Billboards policy can be adopted in the council’s planning policy framework, such as a ‘Local Plan’ or ‘Local Development Framework’.

Alternatively the council could adopt a moratorium on all new advertising screens. This would be a temporary prohibition on granting new applications until outdated national planning policy is reformed in respect of the specific impacts of digital billboards on local communities.

– Will you write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ask that the outdated regulations governing advertising are updated to acknowledge the impact of digital screens? Also, to ensure that residents who will be impacted by new advertising infrastructure know about new planning applications and have an opportunity to comment on them.

Please find here a briefing detailing more information about the major impacts of digital screens on the health and wellbeing of current and future local residents as well as ecological and climate impacts.

I want [NAME OF PLACE] to be a happy, healthy city, free from the pressures of corporate advertising, and digital outdoor advertising directly threatens that. I hope that you will also consider the need to take action on this issue. 

I look forward to your response. 

Yours sincerely,
[Name]
[Your Postcode] (it’s important to add your postcode so that the local representatives know you live in their ward/local area)