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Bristol City Council has banned high-carbon ads, including fast fashion.
Companies will no longer be able to advertise fossil fuels, SUVs, cruises, flights, hyper consumerist sales such as Black Friday, and “ultra” fast fashion in spaces owned by the council. Ads for nicotine products and arms manufacturers are also prohibited.
Read more: Why Is Lidl Fortifying Animal Products With Plant-Based Protein?
The Adfree Cities network initially proposed the policy, and Heather Mack, the deputy leader of Bristol City Council, spearheaded it. The decision to ban high-carbon ads was welcomed by politicians and campaigners alike.
Mack said, “We don’t want Bristol to be a billboard for polluters while we’re working hard to improve health, air quality and nature in the city. We’re proud to be thinking holistically about the changes we need to keep Bristol green and thriving.”
As reported by DeSmog, nearly two dozen UK cities have adopted some kind of restriction on high-carbon advertising, but Bristol is the first in the UK to extend such a ban to fast fashion. Overall, the textile sector is responsible for up to 10 percent of global carbon emissions each year, and nearly 10 percent of all microplastic pollution.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nicola Wilks, the outreach director at Adfree Cities, wrote, “This policy is the culmination of years of work by campaigners including Adblock Bristol, Adfree Cities and other organisations, along with tireless work from council officers and councillors.” She added, “We’re also happy to hear that the council is looking at banning adverts for unsustainable food in a future revision of the policy.”
Read more: Adfree Cities Calls For A Ban On Factory Farming Advertisements
‘Gag Big Ag’ and adverts for factory farming
In August, Adfree Cities called for a ban on adverts that promote factory farming, including meat-based fast food, which it claims promote harmful intensive agriculture. According to Adfree Cities, the network’s new campaign, Gag Big Ag, represents organizations across sustainable farming, animal rights, and anti-pollution advocacy.
Wilks said, “We’re calling for ads that promote factory farming to be banned: to stop misleading people, stop undermining local sustainable farmers, and stop enabling the expansion of this type of farming.”
The Green Party’s Zoë Garbett, the mayor of Hackney, has since pledged to ban adverts for factory-farmed meat and dairy products on council-owned land.
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