The power of advertising Advertising influences us. They try to get us to buy certain products, even if it’s the latest collection of designer brands or cheap flights to Majorca – and it’s not the same what we choose to spend our money on. If, for example, we choose to buy a petrol car rather than an electric car, it matters for how much we pollute, which then affects our health, the climate and the environment. In June, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, called fossil fuel companies “the Godfathers of climate chaos”. In other words, he believes that they have the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis we are facing. In addition, he urged all countries to ban advertising for fossil fuels in line with the advertising bans for the tobacco industry. Singapore was the first country to ban tobacco advertising. It happened in 1971, and since then more and more countries have joined the ban. It was the concern for human health that led to tobacco advertisements no longer being shown on TV screens, on the radio or in the newspapers. Today it is probably no surprise that smoking is very harmful to health. Every year smoking costs more than seven million people their lives and the smoke is not only dangerous if you smoke yourself. Another 1.3 million people die from passive smoking. But in fact, air pollution from fossil fuels is almost as dangerous as smoking. When we draw the air down into our lungs, we also draw down microscopic toxic particles that can, for example, cause cardiovascular disease, lung disease and can increase the risk of cancer. Worldwide, air pollution from fossil fuels kills more than five million people a year. At the same time, greenhouse gases from coal, oil and gas are the biggest contributor to the climate crisis. The ban on tobacco advertising was precisely one of the tools used to put a lid on cigarette smoke – and according to the WHO, it has worked. In almost every country in the world, fewer and fewer people smoke. Although the ban in The Hague, for example, does not cover advertising for meat and clothing, which also have a high climate footprint, Femke Sleegers has no doubt that an advertising ban for fossil fuels will have the same effect as the tobacco ban. She believes that this will lead to fewer and fewer people buying flights, petrol and diesel cars and other products with a high climate footprint. – When people, for example, do not see advertisements for trips to Thailand or Curaçao, they will not be tempted to buy the trip as easily as they would if they saw the advertisement. And when they don’t buy the flight, it means less pollution, states Femke Sleegers. More bans are on the way It is not just in The Hague that fossil advertising is becoming a thing of the past. In Toronto in Canada and Graz in Austria, fossil advertisements are banned on the drawing board, and here and in many other cities, The Hague’s ban is used as a source of inspiration, says Femke Sleegers. Other cities have also tried to limit advertising for products with a high climate footprint. In Edinburgh, Scotland, you must no longer advertise for, among other things, airlines, airports, petrol and diesel cars or cruises. The Dutch city of Haarlem, for example, has banned advertising for meat, which is also a major climate culprit. On a larger scale, only France has dropped fossil advertising. They did so in 2022. But critics have said that the ban does not go far enough. For example, natural gas is not included, and fossil companies can still sponsor large events. But what makes The Hague’s ban so special? – Most other prohibitions are based on contracts. This means, for example, that private chains can still publish fossil advertising if they want to. But in The Hague, the ban is written into the law, and the law applies to everyone, within the city’s borders. So from January there are simply no fossil advertisements in the whole city, explains Femke Sleegers. The technology giants’ heavy backside One thing is the advertisements that we encounter at the bus stop or billboard. Something else is the thousands of advertisements that we encounter when we enter a Google search, scroll through the Facebook feed or read the news. – Many media cover the climate negotiations well. But next to the very alarming articles about climate change are advertisements for flights and cruise holidays. I think it is terrible that the media do not object to these advertisements, because it undermines their otherwise good climate journalism, says Femke Sleegers. But some media have said no to advertising for fossil fuels. Four years ago, the British news media The Guardian banned fossil advertisements. In 2021, the American media Vox Media took the plunge, and last year the French media Le Monde followed suit. But in fact it was our Swedish neighbors who started the media’s fight against such advertisements. The medium Dagens ETC dropped fossil advertisements in 2019 and Dagens Nyheter followed in 2021. In return, the technology giants have not moved, says Femke Sleegers. For example, fossil ads alone in 2020 were seen more than 431 million times on Facebook’s American platform. António Guterres is calling on news media and technology companies to stop helping to increase greenhouse gas emissions by accepting advertising money for fossil fuels. Femke Sleegers thinks the same. – They really should move. They have so much power and their advertisements are everywhere, she says. But there is a worldwide movement under way, says Femke Sleegers. More and more advertising agencies, sports clubs, museums and other cultural institutions refuse to cooperate and receive sponsorship from fossil companies, such as airlines. – It really is a movement that is growing and it will not stop until there is the same ban for the fossil fuel industry as it is for the tobacco industry, states Femke Sleegers.
ttn-70
50 years ago the first tobacco ads were banned – now the same is happening to cars, planes and everything that runs on fossil fuels
