Government too impoverished to inform

THE Scottish Government believes that the private sector and charities should help pick up the bill for its advertising campaigns aimed at changing people's lifestyles, according to a senior civil servant.

Roger Williams, deputy director of marketing and digital for the Scottish Government, has claimed in an interview in the marketing trade website The Drum that there is not enough money available for the public sector to pay for many advertising campaigns and the private sector should take more social responsibility.

He pointed out that the last Scottish Government budget slashed marketing spending by just over half to 6.7 million and said the government cannot be expected to carry on conducting lone campaigns such as initiatives on healthy living, drink driving and flu jabs.

With a drop in the Scottish budget of at least 1.5 billion expected next year, Mr Williams said he expected more reductions to the money spent on marketing.

He said: "Government cannot continue to fund everything itself and when you see the funding that has been given in the past for all of the subjects that we do, the government is now saying that we cannot do these things alone."

He added: "Why should government be doing that when there companies with vested commercial interests out there who will make a profit out of this? Are they going to help?"

Mr Williams suggested various types of organisation should be asked to help, although a spokesman later added that Mr Williams was not only looking for financial contributions.

Mr Williams said: "Working with supermarkets, working with charities, working with the retail trade on many things, we will actively increase that but we are going to have to ask them to start doing things as well. They are going to have to take more responsibility."

According to Mr Williams talks are already under way with potential partners, although he would not reveal which companies those were with.

"This has got to be handled delicately because we're not in the game of promoting or endorsing people's products or services," he said. "We are speaking to the partners who we do business with at the moment but the message is going to have to be increased that ministers are not going to continue to put their hands in their pockets to fund whatever it is, be it organ donation or teaching parents how to bring up their young children."

Mr Williams insisted that while marketing budgets were often perceived as a waste of money and one of the first areas to be cut, they can save the public purse many millions of pounds.

He said: "If you take road accidents, a severe road accident in Scotland can cost nearly 2m. That's the cost for everything from calling out the police, ambulances, fire brigade, cleaning up, damage to the cars, everything. I don't think people realise that.|

A Scottish Government spokesman said that advertising in joint ventures with the private sector was not new. Since 2000 the Scottish Government has run campaigns with Lidl, Co-op, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's, the Scottish Grocers Federation, the Scottish Book Trust, the Scottish FA, alcohol industry partners telecoms firm Thus.