FOI - "Ignore the Noise. Trust Your Own Voice" campaign [Aug 2026]

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information relating to the "Ignore the Noise. Trust Your Own Voice" campaign launched in 2026. Please provide:

1. The total budget allocated to the campaign.
2. The amount spent specifically on paid digital advertising, broken down by platform where possible (including but not limited to YouTube, Google Display Network, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat).
3. The total amount spent on YouTube advertising.
4. Details of the YouTube video advertising used, including the duration of each advert (e.g. 6-second, 15-second and 30-second versions), the dates they ran, and whether multiple creative variants were produced.
5. Copies of the video creatives used on YouTube, where held.
6. Any documents describing the intended audience for the YouTube campaign, including demographic, geographic and interest-based targeting criteria.
7. The total number of impressions, views and completed views generated by the YouTube campaign.

Our response

I can confirm that the GLA holds some information within the scope of your request.

This campaign sits within the Mayor’s work to make London safer, supporting young men and boys and protecting women and girls from online harms and misogyny with a preventive strategy.
 

Research shows that manosphere content can harm young men's mental health, shape unhealthy expectations of relationships, affect behaviour, and normalise hateful attitudes towards women and girls. The Mayor has committed £1m in policy funding via the Violence Reduction Unit to empower young men and boys to tackle harmful ideologies online, at home, at school and in the community.
 

In addition, we developed the ‘Ignore the Noise. Trust Your Own Voice’ campaign in partnership with the education charity Beyond Equality. It offers alternative visions of masculinity and supports young men to reject harmful online narratives and find the confidence to listen to their own voice. The campaign was originally launched in partnership with TikTok LIVE and Beyond Equality, where TikTok streamers were asked ‘what makes a man’ through an online tool. These live streams reached a total of +20K people.
 

So far, the advertising has achieved over 7.3M impressions and 29,000 visits to our online resources to help people spot harmful content in their feed and start a conversation around it.
 

1. The total budget allocated to the campaign is £123,611
2. The amount spent on digital advertising so far is £64,782.27 across the following platforms: Reddit, Snapchat and Youtube
3. The total amount spent on YouTube advertising is £11,187
4. The YouTube advertising ran with a 20-second video and a 6-second video, from 22/06/2026 to 19/07/2026.
5. A copy of the video can be found here SYM_Youtube_16x9 Manosphere Hero Cut Down 20 secs.mp4 and SYM_Youtube_16x9 Manosphere Hero Cut Down 6 secs.mp4
6. The audience for the YouTube campaign is London, Men, 18 - 24 Yo.

7. The requested information is being withheld under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Disclosure of the results data would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of a third party organisation. Specifically, disclosure would reveal detailed information about advertising, performance measures, campaign effectiveness and associated marketing strategy. This information could be used by competitors, suppliers, or other third parties to gain a commercial advantage, undermining the organisation's ability to secure best value and effectively manage future advertising and marketing activity.
    

   We have considered the public interest test and recognise there is a public interest in transparency and accountability regarding the use of public funds. However, we consider that this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting the organisation's commercial position and its ability to obtain best value in future advertising and promotional activities. Accordingly, the information is exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the Act.