Unavoidable Impact: How outdoor advertising placement relates to health and wealth inequalities.

More than four in five outdoor billboard advertisements are in the poorest half of England and Wales, leading experts to warn that the discrepancy risks deepening health inequalities.

While billboards may be seen by many simply as eyesores, campaigners argue they negatively affect people’s lives in intersecting ways, by pushing unhealthy products such as fast food and alcohol, encouraging environmentally harmful consumption and lowering mental wellbeing.

Adfree Cities has for the first time analysed the relationship between advertising and income and deprivation in England and Wales. Its research shows areas with the lowest levels of disposable income were home to 62,953 outdoor ads (82%), compared with just 13,384 in the more affluent half.