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Badvertising

Polluting Our Minds and Fuelling Climate Chaos

Andrew Simms author Leo Murray author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Pluto Press

Published:20th Sep '24

Should be back in stock very soon

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Badvertising cover

**An Independent Book of the Month**

'Funny and readable, [it] will make us all see the world in a very different way' - Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People

'Brilliant ... if you thought your brain was being gently warmed by the advertising industry, read this book and you'll realise it's being fried' - Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2

Advertising is selling us a dream, a lifestyle. It promises us fulfilment and tells us where to buy it - from international flights to a vast array of goods we consume like there is no tomorrow. The truth is, if advertising succeeds in keeping us on our current trajectory, there may not be a tomorrow.

In Badvertising, Andrew Simms and Leo Murray raise the alarm about an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process.

What is the psychological impact of being barraged by thousands of prompts to buy things every day? How does the commercialisation of our public spaces weaken our sense of belonging? How are car manufacturers, airlines and oil companies lobbying to weaken climate action? Examining the devastating impact of advertising on our minds and the planet, Badvertising also crucially explores what we can do to change things for the better.

'Examines the environmental, mental and social costs of advertising'

-- 'Independent'

‘A wonderfully witty, biting and really useful exploration of all the wrong that ads do’

-- 'Irish Independent'

'Why do we allow adverts that actively promote our own destruction? Halting climate catastrophe is hard enough without ads selling things that pollute more. It's extraordinary the simple case for tobacco-style bans hasn't been made so clearly before. With Badvertising, Simms and Murray have done the world an urgent favour. Funny and readable, [it] will make us all see the world and the advertising we are immersed in 24/7 in a very different way.'

-- Dr Chris Van Tulleken, infectious diseases doctor, broadcaster and author of 'Ultra-Processed People'

'Brilliant work ... if you thought your brain was being gently warmed by the advertising industry, read this book and you'll realise it's being fried. I couldn't believe just how effective and how underhand some of the tactics being used in advertising are Badvertising shows how we are all prisoners, but it also passes us the keys to our cells. This book was a watershed moment for me. Since it can't have an advertising campaign, we all need to tell our friends about it.'

-- Jeremy Vine, broadcaster, journalist, host of BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show

'A hugely timely and important book that grapples with advertising's role in enabling climate crimes - and sets out why and how we need to stop the industry's complicity in its tracks, for the sake of a liveable future.'

-- Caroline Lucas MP

'A much-needed book whose time has come. The continued advertising of high-carbon products at a time of climate crisis is a form of insanity. The authors are absolutely right to call for a ban, and it can't happen too soon.'

-- Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards, UCL

'Simms and Murray are right to lay so much blame at the door of the advertising industry ... [they] are clear-headed guides through the fog. Learn the history, be enraged at the tactics, and join the struggle for a less polluted public sphere.'

-- Sam Knights, writer, actor, acti

ISBN: 9780745350295

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

272 pages