Power Politics and the Representation of Poverty: The Nottingham Community Protection #Givesmart Campaign

Abstract

In March 2016 Nottingham Community Protection launched its anti-begging Campaign #givesmart. It featured a series of posters which encouraged those coming into contact with beggars to #givesmart; and ‘giving smart’ meant not giving to those begging on the streets of the city. The immediate general response was to conflate the issue of begging and deviancy with homelessness, and subsequent debate focused on the negative representation of those experiencing poverty, even though Nottingham City Council denied that this had been the original remit of the campaign. After receiving complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority took onboard this (mis)reading of the images, banning four out of the five posters in their original form, claiming that they did represent the homeless in a derogatory manner. This case-study explores the launch of the poster campaign, deconstructs what was arguably the most problematic of the five posters, and situates the ruling of the Advertising Standards Authority within a socio-political context in which poverty is framed and understood in contemporary Britain.