Whose Space is it anyway? Reclaiming our streets from corporate advertising
As corporate advertising continues to dominate our public spaces, one local writer explores its hidden harms – from junk food to greenwashing – and asks whether places like Govanhill could reclaim the streets for people, not profit and if grassroots resistance could offer a way forward.
Words and photo by Iain McLellan with additional research from Gillian Warnock
Having been moved and informed by the reporting featured in the last issue about the effects of gambling harms in our community, I started wondering about other invasive and pervasive cultural factors hiding ‘in plain sight.’ The saturation of advertising taking over our streetscapes and public spaces fits this bill.
This doesn’t mean the riot of colour, fonts and offers from independent shopkeepers and services – or the gig posters, protest notices and Sunday plant-sales. These are generated locally and normally provide a grassroots service to our barrio – an information exchange.
It’s all about intent. The culprits are the multinational advertising agencies that co-opt our space and normalise toxic messaging. Sometimes it can seem that we, as citizens, are only tolerated to fulfill our duty to capitalism – to be the best consumers we can be. Mainstream advertising drip feeds us this message whether we realise it or not.
Some harms are obvious, such as a measurable over-prevalence of junk food messaging – particularly in the least advantaged neighbourhoods. The aviation industry tries to sell us the myth of ‘carbon-neutral’ travel. Fossil fuel companies claim they are trying to actively intervene to lessen global climate change, continuously indulging in greenwashing of the most cynical kind.
Plenty more categories can be chosen from – streaming services, vapes, industrialised farming practices and supermarket sleight of hand ‘savings’ for the canny shopper. The acceptance of this as somehow normal directly drives the destruction of our biosphere.
A brief overview of the ‘ethics’ policy of a handful of the biggest advertising agencies such as Clear Channel or Seen Outside, reveals startling hypocrisy. What’s the point in planting a few trees to salve their collective conscience when research from AdFree Cities (a ‘network of groups challenging corporate outdoor advertising and reclaiming public space for art, community and nature’), shows that the number-one outdoor advertisers are the legacy automotive industry? Equally, a multi-national pitching in for a token litter-pick or two does not excuse taking the coin of the junk food lobby – a major contributor to the problem of street littering in the first place.
Perhaps, most harmful is the effect advertisers have on our own body image and sense of self-worth. The privatisation of our very corporeal mass. The cosmetic and fashion lobby have become self-appointed guardians of what constitutes ‘normal’ – what if your gender identity, look or size isn’t mainstream? That’s okay – you can spend your way back into conformity.
This situation can be seen as an irresistible force but we shouldn't be too forlorn. There is hope – there are tools at our disposal if we choose not to accept the status quo. It all starts from the grassroots – we need to care about the commodification of our public spaces.
Campaign group AdFree Cities offers options for the recovery of local autonomy by forming local groups within a national network (although there is not yet one in Glasgow), lobbying councillors and parliament and campaigning for changes in legislation. They invite people to send in pictures of inappropriate advert placements – some that might qualify are those on Victoria Road where adverts for the London-based radio station LBC are routinely displayed. Not entirely relevant or well targeted.
A number of cities around the world have already taken strides in an attempt to go ad-free. São Paulo led the way with its Clean City Law in 2007 which banned all outdoor advertising. In a year they removed 15,000 billboards and 300,000 oversized storefront signs, replacing some ad spaces with street art. Other cities around the world (including Chennai, Tehran and Grenoble) have since introduced their own bans. Closer to home, in May 2024, Edinburgh prohibited advertising of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, commercial flights, cruise ships, and SUVs on council owned spaces. While Sheffield and York have also introduced bans on advertising junk food, vaping and other harmful practices. Could Glasgow follow suit?
Most forms of advertising placement require planning consent from the city council. They also lease out certain sites to advertising agencies. For example, the ten year contract for all ‘ bus shelter cleaning, maintenance, repair and advertising services’ is held by multinational corporation, Clear Channel. This can look like a conflict of interest – our legislators are tasked with minimising the harms of advertising but rely on the revenue generated to prop up terminally underfunded services and infrastructure.
Glasgow City Council’s policy on this states that ‘the Council will resist the accumulation of advertising clutter’ to ‘ensure that the visual amenity… of an advertising site or the surroundings is not adversely affected’. They also state that ‘colours and level of luminance should not interfere or cause distraction to road and cycleway users in the vicinity of signals’. Yet ad agencies make a feature of their owned sites as located in places guaranteed to be seen – commonly at busy road junctions, raising concerns about road safety and distracting motorists.
We don’t need to take this lying down. In Govanhill, we have a proud tradition of sticking up for our shared spaces. We aren’t just consumers asking to be force fed an unsustainable and unhealthy lifestyle. Get involved locally – apathy isn’t an option. Visit adfreecities.org.uk to find out what you can do.
We plan on doing a follow up story on this with data accessed under the Freedom of Information Act. Let us know what you think by uploading pictures of harmful advertising in the neighbourhood here.