Four in five billboards in England and Wales are in poorer areas

More than four in five outdoor billboards are in the poorest half of England and Wales, with leading experts warning the discrepancy risks widening health inequalities.

While billboards may simply be seen as an eyesore by many, campaigners claim they negatively impact people’s lives in several ways, by encouraging unhealthy products such as fast food and alcohol, encouraging consumption that is harmful to the environment and reduce mental well-being.

Adfree Cities, a group campaigning against the expansion of advertising, has analyzed for the first time the relationship between advertising and income and disadvantage in England and Wales.

The research shows that areas with the lowest disposable income have 62,953 outdoor advertisements (82%), compared to just 13,384 in the affluent half.

Although it has not been measured whether more unhealthy products are advertised nationally in more deprived areas, industry data lists three fast food chains will be among the top five spenders of UK outdoor advertising in 2023.

Professor Emma Boyland, chair of food marketing and child health at the University of Liverpool, said advertising risks exacerbating health inequalities, including obesity, with children appearing particularly vulnerable to marketing.

“It affects our choices,” she says. “We know that in deprived areas there is a cascade of reasons why it can be more difficult to maintain body weight, including lack of facilities, lack of time, stress and the density of fast food restaurants.”

Boyland, who wrote the report’s foreword, said existing research shows that poorer neighborhoods are not only home to more outdoor advertising, but also more advertisements for unhealthier products. “There is evidence that advertisements for unhealthy food are more clustered in areas that are more deprived,” she said, pointing to a recent research in Liverpool.

Research shows that among young people, the risk of obesity is more than twice as high among those who report seeing junk food advertisements every day, and Boyland said type 2 diabetes and childhood obesity are on the rise, with children in underserved areas hardest hit become.

Boyland called for a concerted policy change to limit these health risks. “We need to think about how we can reduce inequality. The research shows the cluster effect, which is not just about one single factor: people are affected from all sides. They say it is so harmful to the economy to regulate advertising, but the costs we spend to tackle obesity are enormous.”

The report focuses on Sheffield and Leeds and finds that advertising density was higher in the parts of the cities with the lowest disposable income.

In Sheffield, 60% of listings were in the city’s poorest three deciles, with just 2% in the most affluent third decile. The picture in Leeds was less grim, with 37% of ads in the third lowest income group and 20% in the three most affluent deciles.

Peter Brooks, a researcher, said poorer areas may have more advertising due to lower land values ​​and proximity to main roads. Another reason may be related to planning permission, where advertising in wealthier areas is more likely to be opposed.

Some residents are joining local efforts to combat the increase in advertising in their city. Rajan Naidu lives near Birmingham Ladywood, the constituency with the second highest number of outdoor advertisements and one of the most deprived in England.

“It gives you a feeling of helplessness, just like when we see an area covered in litter,” Naidu said. “If someone were to ask, ‘Do you want a billboard outside your house?’ most people would say, “No way.” But there is a sense of powerlessness (when) they do this to our environment.”

While residents will be given the opportunity to oppose a planning application, Naidu said local authorities needed to design their systems to accommodate people on a larger scale. “We are technically consulted, but no real attempts are made to track us down… Not everyone will read a letter and respond.”

In wealthier areas, Naidu thinks it is more likely that “there will be someone in the local community who knows the official ways to do something about it”. He said: “Once these installations are on our streets there is very little we can do about them.”

Tim Lumb, director of out-of-home advertising organization Outsmart, said the sector provides an important revenue stream for local authorities. “With one in five municipalities with risk of bankruptcyurban deprivation is a serious problem. Out-of-home advertising is an important revenue stream for cash-strapped municipalities. They fund public infrastructure such as bus shelters, telephony and defibrillators, and help the public purse through rents, revenue sharing agreements and business rates.”

He said one PwC report found that £411 million of outdoor advertising revenue “found its way back into the economy in 2021, with £1.1 billion invested in designing, installing and maintaining public infrastructure over the last 14 years”.