Corporate outdoor advertising encourages and thrives on our insecurities, body dissatisfaction, debt and unhappiness to sell us an aspirational idea of what we should want and be like.

As you might have noticed, this toxic influence isn't evenly distributed. Where do we see outdoor advertising? Billboards are concentrated in areas of economic and social deprivation, where they serve to deepen existing inequalities, for example in public health. Outdoor ads are also largely dominated by larger multinational corporations that encourage us to spend money on global firms rather than local businesses, taking income out of local communities. While financial revenues received by local councils from billboards are often touted as a benefit to towns and cities, this is likely to be far outweighed by the hidden costs to the public purse from consumer advertising - including unhealthy eating, air pollution, gambling and public health issues. This impacts directly, and unequally, on the cost of living crisis we are all feeling.

But across the UK, and around the world, citizens are taking action and fighting back by reclaiming public space for art, nature and community over adverts, restricting harmful ad content and challenging the consumerist messaging of advertising in the round. Join Adfree Cities to find out more, and for practical tips on how you can get involved in your local area.

What to expect from the workshop

Through this interactive online workshop, Adfree Cities will explore how advertising exacerbates the cost of living crisis and exposes inequalities in terms of local geographies where the dominance of corporate advertising interacts with indicators of social deprivation.

We will also look at examples of how local communities can fight back through anti-advertising activism and policy change to reclaim these spaces for communities and challenge the consumerism narrative.

Who are Adfree Cities?

Adfree Cities is a network of groups across the UK who are concerned about the impacts of corporate advertising on our health, wellbeing, environment, climate, communities and the local economy. We lobby for policy change at national and local levels, showcase alternatives, organise locally to stop new advertising sites in UK cities, and produce resources to raise awareness about the impacts of commercial advertising. www.adfreecities.org.uk