'Harmful' advertising to be banned in Sheffield

Adverts for unhealthy food, gambling, vaping products and airlines are among those set to be banned on some advertising boards in Sheffield.

The Council are set to bring in the ruling for boards they control.

Nonprofit charity Gambling With Lives have hailed it as 'brilliant news' to protect the health and wellbeing of locals.

The policy was agreed earlier this week (March 18), with the full list coming into focus of banned adverts next month including:

• 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 (HFSS), and food ordering services;
• Certain breast or infant milk formulas;
• Alcoholic drinks and low/zero alcohol drinks from brands synonymous with alcohol;
• High-cost, short-term loan advancers;
• The policy can be eased to support local small and medium-sized businesses

A committee report said that potentially revenue could drop for these advertising boards, which are owned by the local authority, but evidence from other local authorities which have brought in similar bans have not seen that as affected brands are switching to spaces which are outside a council’s control.

There are currently 2,046 boards across Sheffield owned by the City Council.

The AdFree Cities study showed that 60% of advertisements in Sheffield are found in the poorest three deciles (areas) of the city.

Just 2% are sited in the most affluent three deciles - and you can read more about this study here.

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