Advertising Standards Agency bans council's anti-begging posters

Four Nottingham City Council posters urging people not to give money to beggars have been banned for being likely to cause widespread offence and reinforcing negative stereotypes.

One of the posters read: "It's your choice: give money to someone begging and feed a harmful addiction ... or give to a charity which provides treatment and support."

7 people complained that the ads portrayed homeless people were being portrayed negatively and implying they were engaging in criminal and anti-social behaviour.

Earlier this year a petition was set up calling for the posters to be removed from the streets of Nottingham. It was signed by 2,661 people.

However, Nottingham City Council said the posters were not about homelessness but aimed to discourage the public from giving money to people who begged.

The Advertising Standards Agency said it understood that aggressive begging was an increasing concern within Nottingham city centre and the objective of the ads was to encourage the public to give to charities.

But it said the ads "portrayed all beggars as disingenuous and undeserving individuals that would use direct donations for irresponsible means".

In response to this Councillor Jon Collins said the ASA had completely failed to understand the seriousness of the begging problem and why this kind of campaign was needed.