The U.K. is set to launch soon one of the largest public information advertising campaigns ever to prepare people and businesses for Brexit, whether there will be a withdrawal deal or not.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Britain’s newly-appointed Finance Minister Sajid Javid said that the campaign would help the country ensure its readiness to leave the European Union.
“We are also going to fund a major nationwide communications campaign to ensure the people and businesses of this great country are ready and poised to leave on October 31. More details will be announced soon, but I can say that this looks set to be one of the government’s biggest ever public information campaigns,” Javid wrote on Sunday.
Up to £100 million ($123.4 million) is expected to have been allocated to the ad campaign, according to a Telegraph source, and it is likely to use large-scale media such as billboards and TV, together with leaflets and online advertising.
It could also include a no-deal preparation leaflet delivered to every home in the U.K.
“Making sure Britain is prepared for no deal is the best way to get a great new deal,” Javid wrote. “That is why this government is turbocharging preparations to leave with no deal.”
Javid is set to reveal plans to spend £1 billion on preparations for a no-deal Brexit, the Telegraph report suggested.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already said that the country must leave the EU by the October 31 deadline “do or die, come what may,” and on Monday the government stepped up its planning for a no-deal scenario.
Johnson and his Conservative Party have already been advertising on Facebook. One ad, which started running on the social network on Sunday, appealed to people to join the party. “No ifs, no buts. We’ll leave on 31st October — and whatever happens EU citizens here can be certain of their rights to stay. Agree? Join Boris’s team, ” it stated, with a link to join the Conservatives. The party spent £13,487 on Facebook ads for the seven days starting July 21, three days before Johnson took office as prime minister.
Previous large publicly-funded information campaigns include the launch of Britain’s National Health Service in 1948 and a “Don’t die of ignorance,” ad campaign about AIDS prevention in 1986, then the government’s largest ever public health campaign.
Source: CNBC
