Diagnosing brain pollution
[ad_1]
Detrimental
Why does it matter? The detrimental impacts of advertising’s brain pollution on mental health, human behaviour and relationships are well established.
The pursuit of the materialistic goals it encourages undermines individuals’ wellbeing.
When brain pollution enters the human body it makes us feel we are lacking something, triggers feelings of inadequacy and exploits our insecurities.
Marketing strategies directed at women in particular exploit bodily insecurities by promoting ‘beauty ideals’ that are only possible to reach by buying this or that product.
In studies, brain pollution is also seen to contaminate the human sense of care and compassion towards others – exactly the kind of important behaviours on display during the global coronavirus pandemic that helped pull so many through, and which are vital in confronting the climate emergency too.
Values
But, exposure to adverts lead us to focus more on so-called ‘extrinsic values’, those guiding our sense of competitiveness and greed through conformity, image, financial success, achievement and power – and less on ‘intrinsic values‘ those that govern our feelings of empathy and caring towards others, expressed through affiliation, self-acceptance, community feeling, benevolence.
Advertising sets out to increase the consumption of products and services and the sector is getting bigger. But overconsumption of superfluous, non-essential goods is driving planetary breakdown.
Polluting, high-carbon, consumer lifestyles promoted by advertising are an obstacle to reaching safe climate and ecological targets. Adverts promoting large cars and privileged, frivolous flying are especially dangerous.
Over the last ten years, for example, brain pollution from car manufacturers selling large, high pollution ‘sports utility vehicles’ (SUVs) has risen dramatically.
In 2018, car maker Ford reportedly spent 85 percent of its advertising budget promoting SUVs and light trucks in the USA, a rise from 50 percent just two years earlier.
Controls
In 2019 the International Environment Agency (IEA) noted that SUVs were the second biggest cause of increasing CO2 emissions (after power generation, but ahead of aviation and heavy industry).
This type of advertising is not only fuelling our climate and nature crises but is promoting the burning of fossil fuels which chokes our towns and cities and whose air pollution in total was responsible for an estimated 8.7 million deaths in 2018.
The latest research shows that is more than the obvious examples too. In the case of advertising for beef and tobacco products there are clear links between advertising and the climate and ecological emergency.
As the latest IPCC report warned of a “code red” for humanity, the Ministry for the Climate Emergency campaign is trying to achieve greater public awareness of the dangers of brain pollution and the urgent need for more controls on the most damaging forms of advertising.
Tobacco
Who is responsible? Many advertising agencies have major polluters as clients.
London is a major centre, with companies such as Wavemaker working for the likes of Chevron, Texaco and Heathrow, UM has clients such as Exxon Mobil, Statoil and airline Emirates, and Mindshare clients like BP, Gazprom and Black Rock, all according to adbrands.net. There are many more.
When it comes to regulating advertising national regulatory bodies are in charge of policing commercial adverts and ensuring that adverts meet their codes of conduct and guidelines.
But instead of providing safeguards against the potential detrimental impacts of advertising on human wellbeing and nature – research shows that these bodies too often are enabling rather than checking the industry.
Would you trust health professionals charged with reducing the impacts of smoking on the public if its governing body included members of the tobacco industry? This, however, is how the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – the UK advertising regulator – operates.
Ineffectiveness
Representatives of the industry are effectively given the power to write their own rules.
Similarly, regulators in the National Advertising Division of Better Business Bureau in the United States and the Reklamombudsmannen (Advertising ombudsman) in Sweden are directly funded by the industry and governed by a process of self-regulation.
Research in the Journal of European Consumer and Market Law points at the ineffectiveness and inconsistencies of both the UK and Dutch advertising regulators, the Dutch Reclame Code Commissie, when it comes to regulating advertising by fossil fuel companies.
The process for removing harmful adverts is also cumbersome, and relies entirely on individuals’ willingness to file complaints.
Advertising regulators will then only consider those complaints if they are proven to be in breach of their own, often narrow, codes of conduct.
Greenwashing
And even in those cases it is not yet guaranteed that they will follow through with them.
But these codes are far from being adapted to changing political and social contexts or new urgent challenges like the climate emergency.
For instance they are not taking into account dangers posed by the rise in green marketing claims by major polluters in the car, aviation and energy industries.
Responding to the scale of this threat, in the UK recently, it took a different body, the Competition & Markets Authority, to launch a public consultation investigating misleading green claims, with the ASA only belatedly saying it will update its codes.
So far no regulations have been written to restrict greenwashing in particular.
Out-dated
When it comes to planning regulations that control advertising at the local level, current policies and guidance are out-dated and do not accommodate the natural concerns of councils and residents around a wide range of issues, from climate, to air pollution, environmental light pollution, the ‘attention economy’, mental health and the dominance of non-consensual adverts in public spaces.
Things have changed greatly too since existing rules were made, with the rising number of applications for digital brain pollution screens and changing advertising technologies that use facial detection and tracking capabilities.
Thousands of local authorities across the world have now declared a climate emergency and some are legally required to deliver on their zero carbon pledges.
Controls on the most damaging forms of advertising – for high-carbon goods and services – should now be included in those policies.
Badvertising
What can be done about it? Campaigns are now calling for legislation against high carbon advertising with a particular focus on fossil fuel companies, internal combustion engine cars and aviation.
The Badvertising campaign is also calling on local authorities to follow the example of local councils like Norwich, Liverpool and North Somerset in the UK and Amsterdam in the Netherlands in taking measures to end high-carbon advertising.
Governments and local authorities can use their powers to reduce brain pollution and stop adverts fuelling the climate emergency and several other cities around the world such as Grenoble, São Paulo, and Geneva have also taken steps to combat the effects of brain pollution caused by advertising.
Individuals can get involved, and officials and elected representatives find out more by going to badverts.org/action where you can watch the Ministry’s public information film or search #BrainPollution #Badvertising.
This Author
Andrew Simms is co-director of the New Weather Institute, coordinator of the Rapid Transition Alliance, author of several books on new and green economics and co-author of the original Green New Deal. He is on twitter at @AndrewSimms_uk.
Emilie Tricarico is a researcher and writer into social and ecological transitions and is cofounder of SEEKonomics. She tweets at @EmilieTricarico.
[ad_2]
Original Post
After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.
I got what you mean ,saved to favorites, very nice site.
Great write-up, I am normal visitor of one?¦s blog, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was searching for!
of course like your web-site but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to inform the truth however I’ll definitely come again again.
hello there and thanks on your information – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did alternatively expertise a few technical issues the usage of this web site, as I experienced to reload the website many times prior to I could get it to load correctly. I have been wondering in case your web host is OK? Not that I’m complaining, however sluggish loading circumstances instances will often have an effect on your placement in google and could harm your high quality ranking if advertising and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Well I am including this RSS to my email and could glance out for much more of your respective interesting content. Make sure you update this once more soon..
I saw a lot of website but I believe this one contains something special in it in it
F*ckin’ awesome things here. I’m very glad to see your post. Thank you so much and i am taking a look forward to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any support is very much appreciated.
There is apparently a bundle to know about this. I feel you made some nice points in features also.
Greetings from California! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the knowledge you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, very good blog!
Its such as you learn my thoughts! You seem to understand so much approximately this, like you wrote the guide in it or something. I feel that you just could do with some to force the message home a little bit, however other than that, that is great blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.
Hey very nice web site!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds also…I am happy to find numerous useful info here in the post, we need develop more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
I enjoy your writing style truly enjoying this internet site.
I will immediately snatch your rss feed as I can not to find your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly permit me realize in order that I may subscribe. Thanks.
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thanks , I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
I must voice my affection for your kind-heartedness for women who really need help on the study. Your real dedication to getting the solution all around came to be exceedingly helpful and has usually empowered women just like me to realize their ambitions. Your warm and helpful guide can mean a lot to me and much more to my peers. Thanks a ton; from all of us.
What Is Sugar Defender? Sugar Defender is made of natural plant-based ingredients and minerals that support healthy blood sugar levels.
Hello! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
I will right away grab your rss as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
What Is Puravive? Before we delve into the various facets of the supplement, let’s start with the most important
This is very interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks!
hi!,I really like your writing very a lot! share we keep up a correspondence extra approximately your article on AOL? I require an expert on this area to unravel my problem. May be that’s you! Having a look ahead to look you.
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and may come back sometime soon. I want to encourage you to continue your great job, have a nice evening!