JOHN MCLELLAN: Scottish Government advertising cuts ‘have huge implications for jobs and public health’

With the SNP cutting £500 million from Scottish Government budgets, including £115.8 million from health and social care, I doubt many readers will worry too much about the cancellation of their advertising and marketing campaigns.

In normal years this would amount to around £20 million, and it underpins hundreds of jobs in Scotland’s creative sector, be they advertising agencies, media buyers, television and radio companies, magazines or news publishers.

The freeze has been known for some weeks, but last week it got worse, with £0.8 million slashed from VisitScotland’s budget

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Sadly, there is no army of glamorous actors and writers to force a rethink like that which saved the Creative Scotland Open Fund, but it is no less critical for the bread and butter of the Scottish media industry.

The creative work and booking strategies behind these campaigns are contracted to agencies, and even if they and media owners were generous enough to offer their services for free, the revenue loss would still mean job losses.

Scottish agencies are now giving employees redundancy risk notices, but protected by a no compulsory redundancy policy, the jobs of those working in Scottish Government marketing are safe even though they have virtually nothing to do.

But the implications are far greater than media jobs, because the cancelled campaigns are not just to fill space or airtime. They contain essential public information, not least of which is the real risk that the absence of a winter flu vaccination awareness programme will result in the deaths of vulnerable elderly people who have not been prompted to get their boosters.

Health campaigns like the ‘Early Bird’ cancer detection initiative by Healthier Scotland and NHS Scotland, are crucial for encouraging people, particularly in more deprived communities, to get themselves checked.

Both examples show advertising can help save lives, so it’s not just about the self-interest of media companies.

When the SNP revealed that severe cuts would need to be made, they pledged that those areas essential for economic growth would be protected, yet a recent Advertising Association report showed that every £1 spent on advertising generated £5 for the Scottish economy, so what looks like a saving for the Scottish Government is actually inflicting wider damage and puts its tax revenue at risk.

There is no easy way out of the financial bind into which the Scottish Government is knotted, but like the Creative Scotland Open Fund, a rethink is urgently needed and the advertising tap reopened.

John McLellan is director of Newsbrands Scotland

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