Sheffield City Council has announced that it will not permit the advertising of harmful products on council-owned billboards.
The new bill forbids the advertising of polluting products like airlines and fossil fuel powered cars, as well as gambling items, vaping ads, alcohol, and unhealthy food products.
The new rules will be enforced under the new Sheffield City Council’s Advertising and Sponsorship Policy, under which the council’s social media, websites and sponsorship arrangements will also be subject to restrictions.
“The Sheffield council policy recognises the role of advertising on influencing our behaviour. Consumers are still free to purchase whatever car or airline ticket they wish for but it’s about changing the choice architecture in which they make those decisions,” Adfree Cities campaigner Robbie Gillett told Marketing Beat.
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“There’s this disconnect in our lives, on the one hand we’re reading increasingly dire news about about how we need to live our lives, and yet the advertising industry is continually encouraging us to buy more and more high carbon products and even glamourising those lifestyles.”
The move comes in the wake of a recent report by Adfree Cities which revealed that 80% of the UK’s billboards are located in the poorest areas, with an impact on health in low income communities.
In a Finance Committee report Sheffield City Council found that the financial impact of the policy was likely to be low compared with costs incurred from pressures on the NHS.
It comes after other councils including Luton, Southwark, Barnsley have also carried out similar policies – particularly related to HFSS (high fat, salt and sugar) foods.
