Sadiq Khan has been accused of double standards for banning fast food adverts on the tube, but doubling the number of gambling adverts.
The Mayor of London announced last year that junk food adverts would be banned across the Transport for London (TfL) network, saying “reducing exposure to junk food advertising” could help reduce childhood obesity.
But with an estimated 340,000 gambling addicts in the UK, campaigners have accused Khan of hypocrisy.
‘Hypocrisy’
The Daily Mail revealed that the number of gambling adverts on TfL’s trains, buses and stations has almost doubled in Khan’s three years as mayor.
Iain Duncan Smith, Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Related Harm, criticised what he called the mayor’s “hypocrisy”.
“The idea he should have those (ads) all over TfL, encouraging young people to take up gambling, is awful, and he needs to end it now.”
The Rt Revd Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans, also blasted their prevalence across the Tube network, likening them to now “unthinkable” tobacco adverts.
Clampdown
Last year, campaigners called for a clampdown on gambling adverts following a deluge during the football World Cup, with betting adverts making up 17 per cent of ITV’s advertising during the tournament.
Teenagers have also complained that they are being bombarded by adverts which they believe is fuelling a rise in young people choosing to gamble.