Climate campaigners are calling on local authorities and councils to ban “high-carbon adverts” including on fossil fuel companies and “fuel-hungry SUVs”.
The “Badvertising” campaign calls on drivers to ask local authorities to adopt policies to ban adverts featuring polluting products or services on council-owned ad spaces.
It is now warning that the need for this comes now more than usual with Black Friday around the corner, with adverts becoming more prominent to encourage people to spend more.
Badvertising, as well as climate action group Possible, have warned that high-carbon adverts “fly in the face of our climate goals”.
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Campaigners are calling on Britons to write to their local councils to demand changes to adverts
POSSIBLE
Campaigns like this have already worked with Sheffield City Council unveiling its Advertising and Sponsorship Policy for 2024-2026.
As part of this, the city banned all firms and associated sub-brands or lobbying organisations that extract, refine, produce, supply, distribute or sell any fossil fuels from advertising or sponsoring.
A similar advertising and sponsorship ban was rolled out for content which promotes petrol, diesel and hybrid electric plug-in vehicles.
These industries were banned alongside adverts for products including weapons, tobacco, e-cigarettes, airlines, junk food and alcoholic drinks.
This move was praised at the time by Veronica Wignall, co-director at Adfree Cities, who said Sheffield would set the standard for other cities around the UK to follow suit.
She added: “This is a bold and common sense policy that firmly prioritises climate action and the health and wellbeing of people in Sheffield over the financial profits of advertising companies and global brands.”
Even UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a ban on fossil fuel advertising, as well as branding coal, oil and gas companies the “godfathers of climate chaos”.
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Climate group Possible is encouraging Britons to “take a stand” against harmful advertising and urging them to contact their local councils to act.
It points to polling which found that 68 per cent of adults across the country support restrictions on adverts fuelling the climate emergency.
The campaign added: “Harmful advertising for high-carbon products doesn’t just clutter our streets — it actively fuels the climate crisis, shaping what we buy and how we live.
“But councils have the power to remove these adverts and reclaim public spaces. By speaking up together, we can make sure they act.”
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Cities around the UK have already banned adverts relating to new vehicles
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“We have the chance to shift the balance of power away from the industries pushing high-carbon lifestyles. Let’s make it happen.”