Compass Report asks for ban on advertising in public spaces

Some of the measures the report calls for include:

• The complete ban on all advertising in public spaces.• A limit to be placed on shopfront marketing.• A ban on TV advertising to children.• An OFCOM review into personal data being held and used for commercial purposes.• The introduction of a a tax on all advertising that encourages greater consumption as a measure to protect the planet for future generations.• The introduction of an improved approach by advertising companies to constructive social purposes, such as recycling and volunteer work.• All adverts and commercial messages must have the advertising agencies name clearly marked on it for the purposes of transparency." In support of the total ban on outdoor advertising the report says: "In a free society we should be able to decide when and where we are subjected to advertising. If we as individuals decide to read a magazine or watch a commercial TV channel then we are accepting the adverts that come with them. However, when we walk outside our front door why should we be bombarded with brand images and slogans we never choose to see, on billboards, trains, the tube, bus shelters, buses and taxis, to name just a few?" A response to the report from the Advertising Association's chief executive Tim Lefroy, said: "Outdoor advertising generates income for national Government and local authorities, which in turn funds free amenities such as bus shelters and a number of free sites for local messaging. To suggest that a free society requires the state to dictate when, where and how we communicate with each other contradicts the concept of liberty and free thought and speech."

The report also goes on to suggest that new technologies used in advertising will cause many social and environmental problems in the future. It says: "Left unchecked, advertising in its new forms will make a substantial contribution to social and environmental problems. Given advances in technology and science there is now a strong public interest in deciding again when and where advertising should be allowed. There are pressing reasons why a new approach to advertising regulation is needed. "Sowing too many seeds of unhappiness advertising works today, in large part, by making us dissatisfied. We won’t buy the next thing unless we are encouraged to believe that what we have got is no longer good enough. The goal of the advertiser is to make us dissatisfied so they can close the next deal and then the next. The myth that with the purchase of consumer durables you could live a satisfying life has been brilliantly perpetuated by the marketing industry. This is only exacerbated for vulnerable groups such as children and young people. A study by the Children’s Society found that hyper consumption as part of the individualistic society is causing a range of problems for children, including high numbers of family break-up, teenage unkindness, and commercial pressures towards premature sexualisation." The Compass report also goes on to suggest that advertising is responsible for much of the consumer debt in society today. "In the UK as individuals we now owe a collective £1.3 trillion on credit cards, store cards, mortgages and loans. This figure is around 140 per cent of household income and has increased dramatically over the last decade; it stood at 105 per cent just ten years ago. Our total individual borrowing is equivalent to a third of the UK’s total GDP, which in 2008 stood at £3.1 trillion. "Financially vulnerable individuals are increasingly encouraged to take out unsecured personal debt and as a result we have seen an increase in low-income individuals accessing unsecured debt in the form of credit cards, store cards and personal loans. These often come with harsh penalties for missed payments and high interest rates. Argos was offering a store card with a 222 per cent interest rate. The card, which allows you to spend between £300 and £500, was advertised as being a good way to keep a check on what you spend – but most customers surely wouldn’t realise that £300 repaid in £9 payments over 56 weeks becomes £504 in interest alone. Low income households with debt have the highest level of debt in relation to their income, meaning that their financial insecurity is much greater than those even slightly up the ladder, and this has got worse over the last decade. The report concludes: "Ultimately we should be free to choose when we receive commercial messages and when we don’t. The public realm should be free from such dense commercialisation. Children should be protected until their minds are able to cope with complex selling techniques – they should be free to be children not just consumers. The Internet should not just become another commercialised realm in which rights of privacy are squashed; instead it should be maintained as a new common for everyone to be free to benefit from. The debate about the Advertising Effect is a debate about our freedom."

To read the full report visit either www.marketingindustrynetwork.com to download a copy or visit www.compassonline.org.uk.