Sustainability Community

Scotland's capital city has banned advertisements for airlines and sports utility vehicles, along with ads for cruise lines and oil and gas companies, in what campaigners are calling a "historic" step-up in action to tackle climate change.

Edinburgh's council announced on Tuesday that it had moved to exclude adverts and sponsorships for "high-carbon products and services" that "undermine the council's commitment to tackling the climate emergency." The ban covers airlines, car companies that advertise SUVs and cruise operators, as well as "all firms and associated sub brands or lobbying organisations that extract, refine, produce, supply, distribute, or sell any fossil fuels."

Read more here and share your views. Is this possible in other jurisdictions? What are the consequences of such moves?

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Aya Pariy
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Great article Aya. UN Chief is now also calling on political action to ban fossil fuel ads just as tobacco ads were banned for its negative impact on health. He also encouraged advertising firms to stop advertising for fossil fuel companies.

This could snowball from here as adverts for high carbon goods, like SUVs and long haul flights are now being proposed to be added to ad ban list. According to an article by Euro News, France introduced a similar ban in 2022 while Canada and Ireland are considering similar bans and more could be on the way.

So whats to lose here? Edinburgh council admits it could lose upto 10% of revenue as a result. The companies affected by the ban will take a hit too. Markletic suggests that marketing generates about 25-30% of the total sales pipeline for a company in a mature sales territory. In a new sales territory, the contribution could be as high as 40% of total sales pipeline. 

While the fossil fuel ad ban is a positive step towards decarbonising, it also comes at a cost to the society. Jobs will be impacted and while decarbonisation is important, services like long haul flights remain essential and cutting ads limits consumer choices.

Here are the links to the articles

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv22vl99vwro

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/06/06/un-chief-calls-on-governments-to-stop-fossil-fuel-ads-where-are-they-already-banned

https://www.markletic.com/blog/how-much-should-marketing-contribute-to-sales-pipeline/

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Confidence Mafoti
Portfolio Manager
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