Scoping a Healthy Outdoor Advertising & Sponsorship Policy in Scotland

Key insights:

• Outdoor advertising is an increasingly important part of the food marketing environment, accounting for 27% of total food advertising spend in 2024, with outdoor advertising spend increasing by 59% since 2018.
• There is growing evidence from England and Wales that healthier advertising and sponsorship policies are feasible, can reduce exposure to advertising for products harmful to health, and have minimal impact on local authority advertising revenue.
• The main barriers include concerns about loss of advertising revenue, existing advertising contracts, uncertainty around monitoring and enforcement, and potential tensions between population health objectives and wider economic priorities.
• Strong political and senior leadership, cross-council working, legal and commercial input, alignment with existing prevention priorities, and local champions can help make policy development successful.
• Ayrshire and Arran provides a useful Scottish case study, bringing together one health board and three local authorities — North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire — and providing an opportunity to explore how a healthier advertising and sponsorship policy could be developed in a Scottish context.