Dr Veronica Wignall, of Adfree Cities, the Badvertising campaign and Adblock Bristol, exposes the role of advertising in increasing the explosive power of overconsumption and argues that it is time to stop promoting overconsumption.
Article from Responsible Science Journal no. 7 (May 2025). Online publication: 16 June 2025.
Scientists are shouting about the urgency of action, climate activists are being jailed for peaceful protests aiming to call attention to the crisis, and campaigning organisations, such as Greenpeace in the United States, are facing disproportionate and chilling legal action.
Headlines reveal the state of play with fossil fuel companies abandoning even modest green targets and doubling down on their core business of exploration and production of coal, oil and gas.
We know too that impacts are strongest on poorest communities, including disproportionate health impacts of fossil fuels throughout their use cycle. Streams of plastic waste choke vulnerable communities, while in the UK, the incineration of household rubbish was recently found to be as polluting as coal. Not only do we have to get a grip on fossil fuels, but the burden of waste that results from overconsumption, particularly by wealthier individuals in wealthier countries.
Yet, despite clear warning bells sounding on all sides, pervasive advertising continues to promote material goods and big brands, tapping into our emotions to fuel lifestyles geared around unsustainable levels of consumption. Fossil fuel companies, the undisputed pinnacle of pollution, are permitted to promote themselves through advertising and sponsorship in such a way that they are able to normalise their presence in our lives and, in effect, maintain a social licence to continue operating.
London’s public transport network has hosted more than 240 advertising campaigns by fossil fuel companies including Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil since Mayor Sadiq Khan set his “zero carbon city” goal in 2018, as revealed by investigators from DeSmog. In many of these campaigns, BP and other oil majors booked out all available ad spaces in tube stations, so-called “station domination”, including at Westminster and St James’ Park stations where footfall includes high level decision-makers commuting to the UK parliament.
Fossil fuel advertising deliberately aims to target politicians, according to a survey of advertising professionals by research unit CAST. Norwegian oil giant Equinor, when its ads were investigated for greenwashing by the UK’s ad watchdog, acknowledged that the ads were “aimed at decision-makers and their influencers, a group that included politicians in government and opposition, as well as advisors and journalists”.
We continue to allow the advertising of products and lifestyles that are extremely high carbon, resulting in marketing-driven trends such as wealthy populations taking more and more flights, and ‘car-spreading’ as SUVs get bigger and bigger. Research by the New Weather Institute research found that a person who reports that they are “sometimes” exposed to SUV advertisements is 71% more likely to own an SUV than a standard car, and is 250% more likely to own an SUV than to own no motor vehicle, compared to a person who reports that s/he is “rarely” exposed to SUV advertisements.
Similarly, we know we need to drastically alter what we eat - to reduce emissions, reduce the likelihood of pandemics, tackle antimicrobial resistance and protect health. But advertising for meat and dairy, much of it produced on a massive scale, is one of the top sectors in terms of advertising spend, particularly for outdoor advertising. Heavy promotion of energy- and carbon-intensive, waste generating consumer technology and fast fashion are yet other areas where advertising locks in polluting lifestyles, blocking sustainable behaviour change.
Advertising asserts itself into all aspects of our lives, co-opting moments of connection, tenderness, bravery and loss. It skewers our self esteem, with devastating impacts on young people. Brands in pursuit of profit are able to skew our cultural values and build widespread social norms.
We need a radical shift in our economy, how we use energy and what we finance; but what about a radical shift in the way we think? How can we unlock meaningful action towards lower consumption, and prioritise things other than unsustainable ‘growth’ - when our mindset is relentlessly geared towards consumption by an industry that reached a value of nearly one trillion US dollars in 2024? Removing advertising on a broad scale is a step towards the pro-social reorientation of our values.
We are seeing a rapid increase in measures to control polluter advertising at the municipal level. There have been fossil fuel ad bans across the world, some working at national level as in France, and many more at regional, city and town level from Toronto, to Sydney, The Hague, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Groningen, Melbourne, Bloemendaal, Lyon, Zwolle, Byron Bay, Glen Eira, Wingecarribee, Fremantle, Amersfoort, Nijmegen, Haarlem, Utrecht, Darebin, Maribyrnong, Yarra and more.
In the UK, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Cambridgeshire, Basingstoke and Deane, Coventry and Somerset have all taken measures to remove advertising by some of the most highly polluting sectors.
We have to challenge overconsumption in any way we can. If advertising is the cultural water we swim in, let’s challenge it. We can lobby for advertising restrictions, boycott Black Friday and stand with retail workers, and strategically object to block new billboard applications in our local areas. In other ways we can take life slow, grow plants, care for each other, support local repair cafes or political moves towards the repair economy. We can save money and get active along the way, which is proven to improve wellbeing. The challenge is to popularise these ideas, and break a lasting taboo of talking about consumption patterns.
Cities ranging from Lyon, to Grenoble, Lancy, Vernier and several US States have banned billboards, and there is a live conversation in Hamburg to do so. Grassroots groups across the UK have blocked new ad sites through the planning system, with the group Adblock Bristol mobilising communities to prevent more than 90 new billboards in the city since 2017.
Removing the ‘call to consume’ opens space for alternative economic visions and a shift away from individualistic materialism towards more pro-social values. Other actions we can take include supporting a planned reduction of destructive and less necessary forms of production and consumption - such as fossil fuels, fast fashion and advertising. Measures to cut demand for polluting goods and services and therefore reduce ‘lifestyle emissions’, should apply especially to those with the wealth to over-consume. Ending polluter ads, and reducing our overall involuntary exposure to advertising could be one of the most important and effective steps to end the norm, and remove the social licence for overconsumption.
Dr. Veronica Wignall was one of the keynote speakers at SGR’s Responsible Science conference in 2024. A video of her conference talk can be found on SGR’s YouTube channel or via www.sgr.org.uk/events
Image by Thomas via Pixabay.
