Adfree Cities

Screenshot of a video call: a man appears speaking next to a larger photo of Antonio Guterres with the caption "we must stop mad men fuelling the madness"

Last week Adfree co-founder Robbie Gillett spoke at the #COP30 Health Pavilion on how the fossil fuel industry uses advertising and marketing to maintain social licence and hide their true impact.

Thanks to @who.int for hosting us at this fascinating event 🙌

We're incredibly thrilled to be speaking at this #COP30 side-event on the harms of fossil fuel advertising.

Join from anywhere using the livestream link in the post below 🔗👇💚

Planning application alert in #Cardiff 📢 Stop this huge screen from distracting drivers & causing unnecessary light pollution - OBJECT NOW!

Reading clamps down on unhealthy food and drink advertisements The advertising of ‘unhealthy’ food will be clamped down upon in Reading going forward.Reading Borough Council possesses advertising space throughout

Very welcome news from Reading where the council is clamping down on outdoor ads for unhealthy food.

"The issue with advertising is that it takes away that freedom of choice that we all have about what we eat" 🔥

rdg.today/reading-clam...

Residents’ devastation as “birdsong tree” felled for corporate advertising - Adfree Cities There was anger and sadness in Norwich just a week before Christmas when a popular ash tree was felled as part of works to replace three billboards owned by outdoor advertising company Wildstone on Ma...

Sadly we have seen this in other areas where local trees are destroyed to make space for ads - adfreecities.org.uk/2024/12/resi...

EAT-Lancet 2025 has a vision for a fairer food system (without advertising) - Adfree Cities The new EAT-Lancet report was published earlier this month, with a refreshed analysis of the global food system and how we might achieve a healthy diet for all which stays within planetary boundaries....

Reducing the influence of advertising will help create healthier food environments and enable the shift towards a more sustainable, just food system - as highlighted by the new EAT-Lancet report, a major scientific analysis of our global food system:
adfreecities.org.uk/2025/11/eat-...

This looks like a fantastic opportunity to learn more:
@drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social @margaretmullanemp.bsky.social @alexsobel.co.uk @pippaheylings.bsky.social @maxwilkinson.bsky.social @oliviablakemp.bsky.social @clivejonesmp.bsky.social @simonforstroud.bsky.social

This is very shocking to see and must be distressing for those who live or work nearby. Our cities need more trees, not more ads. Let's hope the Gardai can quickly identify the culprit.

Does outdoor advertising make you feel proud of your neighbourhood? The government have published a Pride in Place Strategy which says it will support councils to restrict unhealthy ads & put communities in control of their local area. Read more in our latest blog:

"Car advertisements are as unrealistic as cigarette advertisements were... portraying glamorous aspirational scenarios that users cannot achieve: e.g. showcasing cars driving through empty cities. Congestion, air pollution, noise, crashes, and impacts of climate change do not feature."

🔥🔥🔥

Event: Healthy neighbourhoods, green streets and thriving public spaces: how the planning system should serve local communities - Adfree Cities Monday 29th September 2025, 11am, please register for free below@ The Institute Room, Quaker Meeting House, Liverpool (22 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BT) - Labour Party Conference fringe event (All we...

Heading to #LabourPartyConference this year? Join us for an amazing (FREE!) panel event on creating healthy public spaces.

Featuring:
- Dame Henrietta Moore
- Margaret Mullane MP
- Areeba Hamid, exec-dir at Greenpeace UK
- Cllr Julia Willams
- Hugh Ellis, TCPA.

bit.ly/adfree-labco...

Junk food & gambling ads right outside the @libdems.org.uk conference shows why we're here talking to councillors about policies to restrict harmful ads to protect #publichealth & #nature🌿 @ldnc-uk.bsky.social @assoclibdemcllrs.bsky.social @libdemlocalgov.bsky.social

We're off to Greater Manchester this weekend: come and find us at one of the three venues we're visiting to talk with communities and councillors about our public spaces and public health. Full details here: adfreecities.org.uk/events/

@luketaylorld.bsky.social @clivejonesmp.bsky.social @rozsavage.bsky.social @rodneyberman.bsky.social @assoclibdemcllrs.bsky.social @libdemlocalgov.bsky.social @carogucc.bsky.social

We were very pleased to see the issue of outdoor advertising & the health impact on local communities raised in the Lords last week - we will be discussing this issue at our fringe event at Lib Dem conference next weekend - 21st Sept 6.15-7.15pm - & supporting councillors to take action locally

Calling all #Lambeth Adblockers! 📢 Adblock Lambeth are holding a meeting on Monday 29th September - 6pm - 8pm @ The Prince Regent pub, Herne Hill. Get involved in planning their activities for the year ahead & find out more about what they have been up to - adfreecities.org.uk/lambeth/

Who watches the watchdog? Erm... no-one, apparently. We submitted a joint complaint to the ASA about their own misleading adverts, along with our @badvertising.bsky.social partners. The ASA won't investigate it. So who will?

Congratulations to the Vale of Glamorgan for becoming the first local authority in #Wales to introduce an Advertising & Sponsorship Protocol which restricts 'junk food', gambling & payday loans to protect the public health of local communities 🥳 Which Welsh Council will be next?...

Do you live in Cardiff and want to see fewer harmful ads? Tell your councillor to support a stronger ad policy for Cardiff.

Here is our blog from the summit last year - sadly not much has changed and a national ad ban is still a no-brainer! adfreecities.org.uk/2024/10/gamb...

Good to see that gambling advertising is understood as a public health issue at the Peers For Gambling Reform summit & there is a need for OHID to expand their gambling harms remit to cover the impact of ads @drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social

We are at the Peers For Gambling Reform summit today - Will from @endgamblingads.bsky.social highlights the 90+ councils who already ban gambling ads because they understand the impact they have on local communities. But we really need a NATIONAL BAN to protect people from gambling harms

Officials pan bid for more screens in city centre Officials fearing advert overload have binned multinational ad company's bid to stick even more screens on city centre streets.

Great to see that Norwich City Council have rejected new unnecessary digital ad screens in the city centre saying that additional screens would overwhelm the city's heritage & beauty with a proliferation of advertising @adblocknorwich.bsky.social www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/2521730...

Vale of Glamorgan council hopes to ban junk food adverts Vale of Glamorgan council could be the first to ban junk food adverts in some public spaces.

Great to see this in the Vale of Glamorgan. More and more Welsh councils are taking such steps - but wouldn't it be great to see parties campaigning for a national ban at next year's Senedd election?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@adfreecities.bsky.social
#AdvertisingShitsInYourHead

We can't afford billionaires. We can't afford extreme wealth. But we CAN afford living wages and a good life for all workers. So we're joining @makethempay.bsky.social with the Billionaires Out of Fashion bloc. Join us!

Image shows a billboard that has half fallen down revealing rusty framework. Text over the image reads "How the billboards look now"

A CGI image shows a bench and a tree next to a road. Text over the image reads "how the space could look".

Three dilapidated billboards in east Bristol have got us thinking about how the space could look different.

What would you rather see instead of corporate advertising?

#BetterWithoutBillboards

🌼 Heading to #GreenGathering this weekend? So are we!
We're bringing our anti-advertising monstrosity #BillboardDystopia to the Campaigns Field, and running workshops in the Campaigns Dome on Friday at 12pm and Saturday at 2pm. Hope to see you there 💚 www.greengathering.org.uk/campaigns-fi...

French Senate backs law to curb ultra fast-fashion France's Senate approved a revised version of a law regulating fast fashion on Tuesday, which if implemented would ban advertising by fast-growing Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu.

France set to pass advertising ban on ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu 🙌

This is the kind of bold action we need to break the cycles of consumerism that are so harmful to people and planet.

www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

David Lammy Shouldn’t Have Given a Spin Doctor for Planetary Death a Plum Foreign Office Job | Novara Media Is someone who has years of experience doing PR for fossil fuel companies wrecking the planet the best choice to oversee the Foreign Office? Obviously not, writes Adam Ramsay.

Former president of WPP UK - an ad firm representing some of the world's worst polluters - is now able to influence UK foreign policy.

Is this what being a climate leader looks like?

novaramedia.com/2025/07/16/d...