The Hydra

Peter and Tommy discuss the upcoming Gambling Act Review and ask whether it responds effectively to the gambling industry’s dramatic expansion into the markets of internet and mobile games. Online gambling had very little presence when the original act was passed, but now the landscape has changed completely.

The episode looks at the effects of this boom, in particular at the opportunities presented to gambling advertisers by digital platforms. We investigate the impact of public messaging on the health and wellbeing of individuals who use gambling products and ask whether the upcoming review is likely to be effective in curbing some of its most dangerous effects.

The episode features interviews with three key contributors: Professor Agnes Nairn, Chair of Marketing at the School of Economics, Finance and Management at the University of Bristol; James Grimes, founder of The Big Step, a Bristol-based anti-gambling harm group; and Nathan Critchlow, a Research Fellow at The Institute for Social and Marketing Health based in the University of Sterling.

The episode was produced and presented by Tommy Chavannes and Peter Dodd. It was researched by Peter Dodd, Tommy Chavannes, Michael Clark and Charles Grazebrook.

Edit and Sound Design was done by Tommy Chavannes. The Message Recall soundtrack was produced by Bristol based artist, mishima. 

Additional support came from Anna Meares, Calum Sims, Robbie Gillett and Nicola Round.

Huge thanks again to our contributors: James Grimes, Agnes Nairn and Nathan Critchlow.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Help and resources are provided below.

Resources and links:

Nathan Critchlow, Betting and gaming: the COVID-19 impact study

https://www.ed.ac.uk/spectrum/news/news-2020/betting-gaming-covid-19-impact-study

Agnes Nairn, Biddable Youth

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/news/2019/aug/D1261_Horne_DEMOS_Management%20report_2019_web.pdf

James Grimes, The Big Step

https://the-bigstep.com/home

Adfree Cities, ASA report – Too close for comfort

https://adfreecities.org.uk/asa/

Tommy and Anna investigate the evolution of digital billboards, their increasing dominance over public space and the impact on mental health and wider wellbeing. 
 

This episode gives voice to communities directly affected by digital Billboards and  explores Subvertising, 'concretisation', and reviews why new Advertising technologies  are an enhanced threat to personal agency and public choice.  
 

Featuring interviews with Leigh Coghill (Adblock Bristol/ Adfree Cities) and Dr Thomas Dekeyser (cultural geographer and urban ethnographer). 

This episode was presented by Tommy Chavannes and Anna Meares

Researched and co-produced by Callum Simms, Morgan Tipping, Anna Meares, 

Charles grazebrook and Tommy Chavannes.

Edit and Sound Design by Tommy Chavannes and the Message Recall soundtrack by mishima.

Big thanks to Robbie Gillet, Emilie Tricarico

And

Hugo Périlleux Sanchez

 resources online which helped to create this show,

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X18780374

https://www.scenic.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/israel20study20abstract1.pdf

Music Found Sourced from freemusicarchive.org

including

Zeta - Bina 49 

Samoln - Slowly

Good Old Neon - Republic 

FortyOne - i like the internet 

the Young Philosophers' Club - jubilee

Tommy and Anna explore how tobacco industries spent the 20th century dodging and manipulating government health and safety regulations around tobacco advertising, and continue to do so around the world today.

Like the multi-headed hydra, each time an advertising method is cut off for them, tobacco companies have used perverse and enterprising tactics to continue selling their products to the masses. We discover how this industry banded together to spread confusion, fake science and misinformation around the health impacts of smoking, used reward coupons to promote tobacco use, and sell brand recognition to children as young as three.

Even today, big tobacco companies are utilising the stunned attention of the public during the Covid-19 pandemic - caused by a respiratory virus - to sell Vape products.

We speak to experts from anti-smoking campaigns and medical specialists, who are looking into how far we can trust these companies.

By funding anti smoking programs and declaring they are stopping cigarette sales, are these companies really evolving into more health conscious and responsible organisations?

There are fantastic resources online which helped to create this show,

http://tobaccotactics.org

http://ash.org.uk

http://tobaccofreekids.org

Ending The Holocaust By Micheal Rabinoff

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com

Bedminster Tobacco Women

Message Recall is in partnership with Bristol Adblock and Adfree Cities. Please find out more from,

http://adblockbristol.org.uk

https://adfreecities.org.uk