Better Without Billboards

In this episode, James explores the systems in place to prevent harmful advertising from being shown in the UK. Ad regulation can work, but it's piecemeal and slow, as the current failure to keep pace with emerging greenwash advertising from fossil fuels companies makes clear. James later speaks to Will Prochaska from the Coalition to End Gambling Ads about how regulation fails to protect us from ads that promote one of the UK's most harmful industries.Show notes: Read more about the ASA's handling of environmental complaints: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ebd0080238e863d04911b51/t/650ac854c72c3b5dd5ad67a0/1695205492271/Toothless+-+ASA+Report+-+Sep+2023.pdfCheck out some of Adfree Cities's engagement with the ASA: https://adfreecities.org.uk/category/asa-complaints/Find out more about CEGA: https://cega.org.uk/Find out more about Adfree Cities at https:www.adfreecities.org.uk and on X (Twitter) and Instagram @adfreecities.Credits:Produced by Nicola Round and James Ward.Edited by James Ward.Presented by Nicola Round and James Ward.Music by mishima.Thanks to John Sheerman.

From fossil fuels, to cars, flights, cruises and meat and dairy we are surrounded by ads for products that are driving the climate crisis. Just as we banned ads for cigarettes and tobacco once we realised how harmful they were, we can likewise end advertising for polluting products to protect health and the planet. Edinburgh City Council has taken this to heart and passed just such a ban on ads for carbon-intensive products across the city. In this episode we speak to Edinburgh councillor Ben Parker about this motion, how it came about and how other cities (or even the whole country) could do the same.Show notes:Read Purpose Disruptors' research on advertising's carbon footprint here: https://www.purposedisruptors.org/advertised-emissions Watch Antonio Guterres's speech on high carbon advertising: https://youtu.be/7HexvyZdQZwRead Edinburgh council's high carbon ad ban motion text here: https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=70730Read more about The Hague's ad ban here: https://adfreecities.org.uk/2024/09/fossil-ads-banned-in-the-hague/Write to your MP action to support a national fossil ad ban here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/write-to-your-mp-ban-high-carbon-adsFind out more about Adfree Cities at https:www.adfreecities.org.uk and on X (Twitter) and Instagram @adfreecities.Credits:Produced by Nicola Round and James Ward.Edited by James Ward.Presented by Nicola Round and James Ward.Music by mishima.Thanks to John Sheerman.

Who ya gonna call? Err... no one, actually. In this episode, Nicola and James chat with professor Lizzie Nixon as she unravels the curious tale of a phone box that wasn't a phone box on the streets of Nottingham. The story opens up the history of how public infrastructure like bus shelters, defibrillators and phone boxes came to be entwined with advertising. Ads can offer councils a revenue stream, but at what cost? And who really comes out the winner when councils make deals with outdoor advertising companies? Show notes:Find out more about Lizzie's workhttps://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/people/lizern.phtmlFind out more about Adfree Cities at https:www.adfreecities.org.uk and on X (Twitter) and Instagram @adfreecities.Credits:Produced by Nicola Round and James Ward.Edited by James Ward.Presented by Nicola Round and James Ward.Music by mishima.Thanks to John Sheerman.

In this episode we speak with artist Darren Cullen, aka Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives. Our conversation covers Darren's early aspirations to join the ad industry, through his conversion into subvertising, and his most recent work challenging the greenwash of oil giant Shell. Thanks to his winding journey from ads to art, Darren has a unique and unflinching critique of the ad industry and its role in driving consumption by, amongst other things, exploiting a mother's love to sell bleach. Show notesCheck out Darren's website and work past and present at https://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/ You can also find him on X (Twitter) @darren_cullen and Instagram @spellingmistakescostlivesFind out more and support Darren's work in the Niger Delta https://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/hellbusfornigerdeltaThe bleach ad: https://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/drawings?pgid=irwqmxh3-c46a8264-2ffe-4f91-8117-a20ab0279618 More info on the Hell Bus can be found here: https://adfreecities.org.uk/tag/hell-bus/ Find out more about Adfree Cities at https:www.adfreecities.org.uk and on X (Twitter) and Instagram @adfreecities. Credits:Produced by Nicola Round and James Ward. Edited by James Ward.Presented by Nicola Round and James Ward.Music by mishima. Thanks to John Sheerman.

In this episode Adfree Cities' Nicola and James discuss how the planning system holds the keys to overturn decades of in-built inequality. We explore our recent research on outdoor advertising and inequality, digging into the issues with the current planning system for advertising, the issues, and what we can do about it.Thanks to Pete Brooks who authored the research.Thanks also to Carla Denyer, Julia Williams and all our other speakers at the launch event in March.Find out more at https://adfreecities.org.uk/unavoidable-impact/Credits:Produced by James Ward.Edited by James Ward.Presented by Nicola Round and James Ward.Music by Mark Round.