Health quango phased out

Health quango phased out

The Hebs anti-smoking campaign spawned a hit record

Scotland's health promotion quango is being phased out in a move that has surprised the advertising industry.

The Health Education Board Scotland (Hebs) is being merged with the Public Health Institute for Scotland to create a new health-promoting quango called NHS Health Scotland.

A string of successful adverts and a brand awareness that ranks alongside Irn Bru was not enough to save Hebs.

The move has been criticised by the advertising industry.

Creative content

Richard Draycott, editor of The Drum magazine, said: "I think people are very surprised that they are getting rid of the best part of 10 years' branding development."

The Scottish Executive said the advertising had been successful for its creative content not its Hebs logo.

It denied that the name change will be a waste of taxpayers' money and said the new organisation would have a wider health-promoting role.

HEBS was established in 1991 to encourage more people to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Its campaigns have covered topics such as drinking, sex and smoking - and the latter even spawned a single which became a top 10 chart hit in Scotland.

The Public Health Institute for Scotland was set up two years ago, to research ways to improve public health.

From Tuesday, the two quangos will merge and be known as NHS Health Scotland.