Close-Up: Live issue - Why adland is well-placed to confront obesity.

The Government has often turned to the ad industry to highlight public awareness issues with great effect.

Throughout its history, and more so in recent times, the advertising industry has regularly faced criticism from the Government, pressure groups and sometimes even the general public about its worth.

With a lot of hype around proposed bans on junk-food advertising, as well as the almost fanatical demonisation of its role in advertising to children, the ad industry takes a lot of abuse and has recently been facing curbs on its power to reach people.

However, it is often forgotten that in the past, whenever governments, which have so regularly attempted to curb the industry's power, have needed to raise the public's awareness of a serious social issue, such as Aids or drug abuse, they instantly turned to adland to exploit its unique ability to influence.

This week, the Government announced it would be ploughing pounds 75 million into creating a 'social movement', designed to tackle Britain's obesity problem and giving the embattled ad industry the chance to prove that it can be a force for good, as it has so many times in the past.

Nick Bampton is the managing director of Viacom Brand Solutions, which has recently launched an initiative to work together with pro-social advertisers to bring positive advertising to the mainstream and tackle health and social problems by offering airtime at a reduced price. He says: 'The use of TV advertising as a force for good is something we've been openly passionate about.

'As an industry we need to defend companies' rights to advertise their products and services freely, but at the same time responsibly. We also need to ensure that we proactively work in partnership with government departments and regulatory bodies to utilise advertising and influence society into positive change.'