The public health playbook
April 25, 2025 by thecritic.co.uk
The public health playbook
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has revealed that outdoor advertising companies are using tactics similar to those of the tobacco industry to oppose local councils’ attempts to ban junk food ads on bus shelters and billboards. An investigation by Sophie Borland, a former Daily Mail health editor, found that these companies have been lobbying against policies that could harm their business. Borland sent Freedom of Information requests to 52 of England’s 317 local authorities and uncovered evidence of attempts by the advertising industry to influence policy in eight of them. Sources suggest that the actual number could be even higher.
