Dorries: Advertising Crucial To Fightback Against Coronavirus

Advertising carried by publishers such as the ‘All Together’ campaign has been a crucial part of the fightback against the pandemic and will be remembered as a “potent symbol of advertising’s power,” the Culture Secretary said.

Speaking at the Advertising Association, IPA and ISBA conference RENEW 2022, Nadine Dorries said that advertising, which puts £17 billion into the economy, is incredibly important to our national life “economically, socially and culturally.”

“Advertising is also the backbone of our creative industries which more and more are one of the strongest sources of global power,” the Culture Secretary said today.

She added: “But it’s not just culturally, advertising is hugely important socially too. Once again, we saw it with the booster campaign which more than anything else has put us on such a strong footing to bounce back from Covid.

“Much of that was thanks to the interventions of your campaigns and your dedication to the cause. And I know countless publishers gave up space for free to help us promote our mission.”

The campaign, which saw 30 million people boosted in a matter of weeks, will be remembered as “a potent symbol of advertising’s power,” the Culture Secretary said.  

The Culture Secretary said she was pleased to see the advertising sector using its influence to tackle other key issues such as diversity and climate change through initiatives such as the All In census and Ad Net Zero.

In her speech this morning, Ms Dorries also spoke of the need to take action to tackle fraud and scam advertising online and the need to rebuild public trust.

“We want to focus in particular on the role of online platforms and intermediaries and how they disseminate advertising online and how they can take greater responsibility for this role,” she added.