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What Happens When A City Bans Advertising?

Posted by: Abhijeet Chavan

14 May 2007 - 2:00pm

When South America's largest city banned billboards, neon signs, and all other forms of outdoor advertising, an unexpected cityscape emerged and previously unnoticed problems were revealed.

"In January, South America’s largest city officially banned outdoor advertising. Billboards, neon signs, bus-stop ads, even the Goodyear blimp - all were suddenly illegal. Folha de Sao Paulo reporter Vinicius Galvao describes seeing his city as though for the first time...The ban on what the mayor calls "visual pollution" was the culmination of a long battle between the city's politicians and the advertising industry, which had blanketed Brazil's economic capital with all manner of billboards, both legal and illegal. Within months, the city has gone from a Blade Runner-like vision of the future to a reclaimed past..."

"It's weird, because you get lost, so you don't have any references any more...The city's got now new language, a new identity."

Full Story: Clearing The Air
Source: On The Media, April 20, 2007
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