From next month, adverts for vaping, gambling, airlines and certain infant milk formulas will be banned from Sheffield City Council advertising.
The longer list also includes fossil fuels and junk food, and means certain products won’t be allowed to appear on any outdoor media owned by the authority, nor on its digital media. It would also impact what sponsorship opportunities the city could take – discussions would take place with third parties running events in the city.
Greg Fell, Director of Public Health in Sheffield, said it was to “set a tone” across the city – rather than being a cure for the issues. He pointed to a junk food ad ban on Transport for London as an example where people predicted a massive loss of income whereas “actually the opposite was the case.”
The ban will come into place next month, having been signed off at Sheffield City Council’s Finance Committee earlier this week.
The full list of banned products and services include:
- High-cost, short-term loan advancers;
- Discrimination against any individual or group on the basis of any protected characteristic;
- Weapons or illegal drugs or products;
- Sexual or pornography-orientated entertainment materials or products;
- Tobacco and related products;
- E-cigarettes/vaping (except as part of certain stop smoking campaigns);
- Gambling or betting products, services or organisations;
- Fossil fuels-related brands;
- Airlines and airports;
- Petrol, diesel and hybrid electric plug-in vehicles;
- Foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt and/or sugar and food ordering services;
- Certain breast or infant milk formulas;
- Alcoholic drinks and low/zero alcohol drinks from brands synonymous with alcohol.
According to recent research from AdFreeCities, 56% of outdoor advertising in Sheffield is in the 3 most deprived areas of the city against 8% in the 3 least deprived deciles. The most deprived area has 32% of all outdoor ads. 91% of outdoor ads are in the 5 most polluted regions of the city
The 5 wards with the most outdoor advertising (with 58.2% of the total) have 32 times as much advertising as the 5 wards with least (with 1.8% of the total).
The council’s Advertising and Sponsorship Officer, Nicola Allen stated that “discussions” would take place with the organisers of events, including World Snooker and Sheffield Arena, “to influence operators to bring their policy as close as possible to the council’s”.
