Adfree Cities

Our train stations are #BetterWithoutBillboards Sign our petition now to call for a review of digital advertising screens in Network Rail stations.

Advertising is often left out of conversations about the climate. It shouldn't be. Be it through digital, sports/arts sponsorship deals, or out-of-home advertising, the 🔥fossil fuel industry🔥 spends billions of dollars each year trying to craft a positive public profile for itself. When researching and writing our new C40 Cities Knowledge Hub article, my eyes were opened to just how dominated our cities now are by advertising for the products and industries responsible for climate crisis. When did we agree that our public spaces could become new sales frontiers for companies trying to sell us a lifestyle that is unaffordable and unattainable for many, and the cause of climate catastrophe for all? 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 – and some are doing so. ➡️ In 2019, London's Transport for London introduced a ban on advertising for junk food across it's network, which reduced consumption by 7% per household in the first 10 months, saving the NHS £218 million. ➡️ This year, The City of Edinburgh Council banned advertising from high-carbon products and arms manufacturers on council-owned spaces, after passing a motion brought forwards by Councillor Ben Parker. ➡️ This September, The Hague (Gemeente Den Haag) banned 𝘢𝘭𝘭 fossil fuel and high-carbon advertising across the city, introducing a law through local order, the first city in the world to do so. 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. We've seen the roll out of comprehensive tobacco advertising restrictions before for health, we now need the same action on fossil fuel advertising for climate. In the words of Maria Neira, Director of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization: "𝘍𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰: 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰. 𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯." Our new Knowledge Hub guide 'How cities can restrict carbon-intensive advertising' is written to help cities get started with action to restrict carbon-intensive advertising. Please share it widely amongst your networks! Fossilfree advertising Adfree Cities Badvertising New Weather Institute KR Foundation InfluenceMap 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e8a5zbSj

In today's #GreenAlliancePodcast, we dive into the UK’s evolving transport policy discussion. 🚌⚡ Nick Davies, head of climate policy, chats with transport experts Michael Solomon Williams (Campaign for Better Transport), Laura Laker (journalist and author) and Green Alliance's Johann Beckford and Rosie Allen. They cover recent developments on the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate (clip below 👇) and the launch of the Integrated National Transport Strategy. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dVY4Az3S #ZEVmandate #TransportPolicy

Have we had enough of Black Friday? In my blog for Adfree Cities I look at the chaotic origins of Black Friday, the backlash and the boycotts. 📺 Last year, research by Which? found that 98% of tech products in Black Friday deals were cheaper at other times of the year. 💰 Ethical Consumer Magazine has had a long running campaign to boycott Amazon, the architect of Black Friday in the UK, due to the megacorporation’s colossal tax avoidance and exploitation of workers. 👟 A new Netflix documentary reveals the sinister tactics of online retail giants, tech and clothing brands, carefully designed to maximise the chances of you clicking the ‘pay’ button - and the devastating human and environmental cost. ❌ Research by Keep Britain Tidy this year has found that 31% of people “hate” Black Friday, and 27% would join a boycott. ✊ Say no to Black Friday! Independent retailers are opting out; and activists across Europe are creatively resisting by taking action against ads. https://lnkd.in/eWuFUY4N

Have we had enough of Black Friday? In my blog for Adfree Cities I look at the chaotic origins of Black Friday, the backlash and the boycotts. 📺 Last year, research by Which? found that 98% of tech products in Black Friday deals were cheaper at other times of the year. 💰 Ethical Consumer Magazine has had a long running campaign to boycott Amazon, the architect of Black Friday in the UK, due to the megacorporation’s colossal tax avoidance and exploitation of workers. 👟 A new Netflix documentary reveals the sinister tactics of online retail giants, tech and clothing brands, carefully designed to maximise the chances of you clicking the ‘pay’ button - and the devastating human and environmental cost. ❌ Research by Keep Britain Tidy this year has found that 31% of people “hate” Black Friday, and 27% would join a boycott. ✊ Say no to Black Friday! Independent retailers are opting out; and activists across Europe are creatively resisting by taking action against ads. https://lnkd.in/eWuFUY4N

🧒 Delighted to share the latest episode of Adfree Cities' podcast, Better Without Billboards, where I talk to Alice Ferguson from Playing Out and Charlotte Gage from Adfree Cities, about how our planning system fails children and leads to cities unable to meet young people's needs. 🚸 Our conversation ranges from planning to housing to public health, and of course advertising. We find that children are routinely overlooked as a group with needs of their own. 🌳 In the end, building child-friendly cities would benefit not only the youngest in society but all of us. 🎧 Listen now: https://lnkd.in/eYQFhDuv Or Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eYK3hC8A

It was really great to be at the Ethical Consumer Magazine conference last week with Nicola Round running the Our Space Not Ad Space workshop and inspiring people to get creative with reclaiming their public spaces and talking back to the advertising that they see in their communities. Check out the Adfree Cities film for more: https://lnkd.in/egB5t_A5 #advertising #communities #health #climate

We spent the weekend at the Fearless Cities conference in Sheffield, talking about Degrowth but also debuting this beast! Digital Dystopia is a newly commissioned art installation which we will be touring around the country over the next year. Made from e-waste, it reveals how major polluters use advertising to manipulate the public. Read more about it, and the weekend's conference, in Chloe Naldrett's blog: https://lnkd.in/e6Y5Y2Vi

Spot the difference: "electric" car vs "electrified" car 👀 Confused? You're not alone, and it's exactly your confusion that #Toyota is counting on when it bigs up its "electrified" car range in its adverts. Electrified sounds like electric. But don't be fooled. #Electrified, in most cases, actually means hybrid i.e. powered by fossil fuels. In fact, Toyota only produces one #electric #car and is a major opponent of widespread electric car use. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda repeatedly speaks publicly against EVs, the company pursues a "hybrid first" commercial strategy whilst downplaying the popularity of EVs, and Toyota even threatened to end UK production altogether unless the zero emission vehicle mandate was watered down. Misleading #marketing like "electrified" allows Toyota to cash in on its #green credentials whilst doing nothing to meaningfully reduce emissions (which are increasing year on year and stand higher than BP's). So don't believe the ads. Electrified is one big lie.

What impact does advertising have on children? Read the new briefing ‘Consuming Childhood’ from Adfree Cities highlighting the ways that children are manipulated by advertising and why restricting ad content on our screens, streets and in our lives is a public health and children's rights issue. Download here: https://lnkd.in/eG2WtmG9 With thanks to Global Action Plan, Playing Out , Bite Back, New Economics Foundation, UNICEF, Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, Plan International UK and many others for their work and research in this area. You can also get involved in recording what ads kids are seeing on our streets to start a conversation about this. Find out more about the Adpostters project here: https://lnkd.in/e3hj3-bb #Adspotters #children #advertising #publichealth #humanrights