Green Party calls for end of adverts for “high carbon” goods & services – eg. SUVs and long-haul flights
At their party conference, members of the Green Party of England & Wales backed an ambitious climate motion to ban advertising for high carbon goods and services, eg. SUVs and long haul flights. This brings it into official Party policy. They want advertising rules to be brought into the 21st century. “This will spark a long overdue conversation about the role of advertising in our lives” says Green Party peer Natalie Bennett. There are already many restrictions on advertising on products which are socially and physically harmful, such as tobacco which was banned from being advertised and promoted in the UK since 2003. There is good evidence that this tobacco advert ban was effective, awareness about smoking rose, and levels of smoking fell. In August 2020, the ‘Badvertising’ campaign called for adverts for SUVs to be banned, noting that such vehicles make up more than 40% of new cars now sold in the UK, while fully electric vehicles count for less than 2%. We need to stop adverts for products that trash the planet, needlessly encouraging the sale of more of them.
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Green Party to end advertising for “high carbon” goods and services
11 October 2020
- Members back pioneering climate motion at online Party Conference
- Advertising for high carbon goods and services like SUVs and long haul flights to be banned as Party brings advertising rules into the 21st century
- “This will spark a long overdue conversation about the role of advertising in our lives” says Green Party peer Natalie Bennett
Members of The Green Party of England and Wales have called for the end of advertising for “high carbon” goods and services, backing a motion which brings it into official Party policy.
The new policy is designed to “bring advertising rules into the 21st century” by phasing out adverts for goods and services which are harmful to the climate, such as SUVs and long haul flights.
The motion noted that there are already many restrictions on advertising on products which are socially and physically harmful, such as tobacco which was banned from being advertised and promoted in the UK since 2003.
A study by BMJ journal Tobacco Control found that the ban “significantly reduced exposure to pro-tobacco marketing influences” and their conclusions were found to “support the effectiveness of comprehensive bans on advertising”.[1]
In August 2020, the ‘Badvertising’ campaign called for adverts for SUVs to face a similar ban, noting that such vehicles make up more than 40% of new cars now sold in the UK, while fully electric vehicles count for less than 2%. [2]
The motion was backed by Bristol City Councillor Carla Denyer [3], who said:
“In a time of climate emergency, how can it be right that we are bombarded by endless adverts demanding we fly more, drive bigger cars and burn more fossil fuels?”
“We need to learn from the campaign against tobacco advertising. It used to be normal for children to see cigarette billboards on their route to school. After decades of campaigning, a new normal has been established and levels of smoking have fallen.”
“We can do the same for products which are trashing our planet. Ending advertising for high carbon goods and services would be a simple and socially beneficial way to reduce UK carbon emissions.”
Green Party peer Natalie Bennett said:
“After the year we’ve had, we’ve learned what matters most to us, and it’s not the things screaming at us from billboards, posters, radio jingles and television trailers.
“This common sense policy to curb the influence of the biggest polluters will spark a long overdue conversation about the role of advertising in our lives.”
ENDS
Notes
1 Source: https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/15/suppl_3/iii26.full
2 Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53607147
3 Carla Denyer is a Green Party Bristol City councillor, known for proposing and passing the first ever climate emergency motion on any council in Europe.
https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2020/10/11/green-party-to-end-advertising-for-%E2%80%9Chigh-carbon%E2%80%9D-goods-and-services/
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Greens call for advertising ban on polluting cars and flights
New rules would be modelled on tobacco advertising ban
By Jon Stone, Policy Correspondent (The Independent)
@joncstone
12th October 2020
The Green party is to campaign for an advertising ban on polluting products like SUVs and long-haul flights, it has announced.
On Sunday members at the party’s online conference voted to back the policy, which would restrict “high carbon” goods and services.
The plan is modelled on the tobacco advertising ban, which was introduced in stages in the UK from 2003 to 2005.
The party cites research from the British Medical Journal which shows that evidence from the tobacco ad ban “supports the effectiveness of comprehensive bans on advertising”.
Bristol City councillor Carla Denyer, who backed the motion, said it was not right for people to be “bombarded by endless adverts demanding we fly more, drive bigger cars and burn more fossil fuels”.
“We need to learn from the campaign against tobacco advertising. It used to be normal for children to see cigarette billboards on their route to school. After decades of campaigning, a new normal has been established and levels of smoking have fallen,” she said, adding that the government could “do the same for products which are trashing our planet”.
Green Party peer Natalie Bennett said the policy would spark a debate about the issue.
“After the year we’ve had, we’ve learned what matters most to us, and it’s not the things screaming at us from billboards, posters, radio jingles and television trailers,” she said.
“This common sense policy to curb the influence of the biggest polluters will spark a long overdue conversation about the role of advertising in our lives.”
The policy was backed by the Green Party of England and Wales, which is separate from the Scottish Greens and Northern Irish Greens.
The Greens were dealt a blow when Britain left the EU earlier this year, by default losing their seven Members of the European Parliament, which they doubled from three in May last year.
The party holds the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the House of Commons and has some representation in local government and the House of Lords, but has struggled to win Westminster seats thanks to the first past the post voting system.
A recent poll by YouGov last week showed the Greens on six per cent of the vote, in third place above the Liberal Democrats who were on five per cent. Most other polls however still show the party trailing, with a spread of different projected results.