Anti-litter campaigners have accused Bristol City Council of pulling support for a huge drive to stop smokers dropping cigarette butts – because it’s funded by the world’s biggest tobacco company. Clean Up Britain (CLUB) says the authority withdrew backing as a “major partner” for the Get Your Butts Off Our Streets initiative, fronted by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, when it found out Philip Morris UK, which makes Marlboro products, was the financial backer.
The council insists no money had been promised and only an initial meeting was held, and that joining forces with the tobacco giant would have breached its advertising and sponsorship policy. Last week, CLUB drove a massive screen mounted on a van through the city centre showing a short film of former University of Bristol student Brigstocke slamming smokers who throw their butts on the floor as “selfish” and “stupid”.
The celebrity warned they could be hit with a £2,500 fine and a criminal record and that it cost Bristol residents hundreds of thousands of pounds in council tax every year to clear them up. But while the campaign, which launched in January, was being stepped up alongside anti-litter bus-stop adverts and social media messages, CLUB founder John Read criticised the local authority for what he saw as reneging on a deal.
