UK government to slash £500 million advertising budget
The coalition government has today issued figures relating to the previous Labour government and a £532 million advertising bill for the year ended March 2010. While this figure is £8 million less than the previous year, advertising spend under the Labour government increased from £344 million in 2005 to a record £540 million in 2009. So is the coalition government right to slash this particular expense?
While there is no doubt that the UK government needs to use the media to get across many plans and ideas for the future, a £540 million bill for one year seems enormous. It was revealed today that the coalition government has indeed informed a number of leading advertising companies, such as M&C Saatchi, that they should not expect the same level of business from the coalition government that they saw from the previous Labour government.
Quite how the coalition government will choose to promote future policies and future plans remains to be seen but we are almost certain to see a massive reduction in the advertising budget. Whether such media outlets as the Internet and other popular mediums will be used in the future remains to be seen, but the days of massive accounts with leading advertising agencies appear to have gone for the time being.
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