In many countries, the state is one of the leading spenders on advertising. This was true in the UK up until the summer of 2010. Then, as part of a review of spending the decision was made to slash staff and budgets [1] for the department responsible for organising and commissioning government advertising campaigns. Such spending was described as a waste of tax money.
What purpose did these campaigns have? Often, their messages were about community or health issues. An example from just last year would be the campaign run to help prevent the spread of Swine Flu. Catch It, Bin It, Kill It.
At the turn of the year in 2010-11, medical statisticians tell us that the proportion of the population with ‘flu is significantly higher than for the same period last year[2]. There are probably a number of reasons for this, but one of them is that the advertising campaigns reminding people how to stay healthy didn’t turn up on posters and TV.
This has created a dilemma for the UK government. The more people that catch flu, the more contagion spreads. The more people get ill, the more people die. That is – there is a link between the money spent on advertising and how many people will die. Acknowledging this, the government has reversed their decision in respect of the Catch It, Bin It Kill it campaign, and this will now run again.
A related issue is that of how profit making companies latch onto government campaigns, hoping to draw on their credibility – sometimes by imitation of phrase or image - to sell their own products.
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