A woman stands in a council chamber and speaks into a microphone, addressing councillors .

Working with councils

We work with councils across the UK and provide resources to introduce ethical advertising policies.

You can find all our local council resources and case studies here.

How to create ad-free cities

Explore our toolkits and practical how-to guides on objecting to planning applications for new billboards, starting your own Adblock group and lobbying local councillors.

Anyone can help make our cities ad-free. Start your journey now.

Two people install a billboard poster design. One is up a ladder and the other is using a long brush to put up the posters.
Graphic image in which a large billboard looms over a street as people flee before it. The billboard reads "Bad publicity: an Adfree Cities blog series on how omnipresent advertising shapes our lives"

How outdoor advertising shapes our lives

Bad Publicity is a series of guest blogs by academics in fields from psychology to public health examining the ways in which outdoor advertising affects every aspect of our lives.

Adfree Cities research

Our cutting-edge research explores the links between the placement of outdoor advertising billboards and socio-economic and health determinants like air pollution.

This is a work in progress and a full report will be published later in 2023.

A map of Bristol coloured shades of blue representing levels of air pollution.
Two people sit atop an aeroplane sharing a meal.

What’s wrong with outdoor advertising?

Advertising impacts on so many aspects of our lives, from mental health to sexism and body image, local economy and light pollution.

Browse our free to download pamphlets here.

Listen to our podcast

Message Recall, the Adfree Cities podcast series, discusses the history, tactics, and psychology of advertising in public spaces.

Listen to all episodes now.

People install a billboard in front of a brightly painted, multi-coloured building.
A graphic image shows a man with a pram looking at a stack of adverts falling over him as he approaches a park.

Read our reports

Our reports dig into the hidden side of advertising and explore the far-reaching ways in which it impacts our lives.

We also bring to light the regulatory environment in which advertising operates.