Commentary

Should Advertising Be Banned?

Could you imagine if the City of New York banned advertising in Times Square? How about advertising in all public spaces?

Well, that's exactly what the city of São Paulo, Brazil, voted to do last September, by a vote of 45 to one, and it took effect January of this year. Madison Avenue has mostly swept this story under the rug, but it's real -- and daunting.

According to the International Herald Tribune, the "city of 11 million, overwhelmed by what the authorities call visual pollution, plan[ned] to press the 'delete all' button and offer its residents unimpeded views of their surroundings." The report described the new law's broad-sweeping ambitions: "The statute's most visible impact promises to be at eye level and above. The outsized billboards and screens that dominate the skyline, promoting everything from automobiles, jeans and cellphones to banks and sex shops, will have to come down. All other forms of publicity in public spaces, like distribution of fliers, will also stop. The law also regulates the dimensions of store signs, and will force many well-known companies to reduce them substantially by a formula based on the size of their facades. Another provision, much criticized by owners of transportation companies, outlaws advertising of any kind on the sides of the city's thousands of buses and taxis.The law, as passed, also applied to advertising banners trailed by airplanes and ads on blimps."

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The law's been in effect a few months now, and the absence of brandalism is eerie; just check out Tony de Marco's photo set. What's left are either skeletons of giant billboards, or freshly painted building facades, covering what was once bold advertising and logo libido.

As the International Herald Tribune pointed out, the ban initially sparked debate among proponents and opponents -- city planners, architects and environmental advocates versus business and advertising groups. However, my ears perked when Vinicius Galvao, a journalist with Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper, suggested that the public was embracing the ban. On a recent episode of NPR's On The Media, hosted by Bob Garfield, Galvao described the sentiment at large: "It's amazing, because people on the streets are strongly supporting that. The owner of the buildings, even if they have to renovate a building, they're strongly supporting that. It's a massive campaign to improve the city. The advertisers, they complain, but they're agreeing with the ban. What they say is that we should have created criteria for that to organize the chaos."

Galvao's description reflects not post-ban hysteria, but a state of relief, sanity and city pride. Maybe a retreat from over-the-top brandalism may not be such a bad thing. As Galvao underscored in his interview with Garfield, a retreat from public advertising can literally expose and initiate repair of beautifully masked urban ills, such as shantytowns and unsafe working and living conditions.

Now, let me be clear: I'm not suggesting that any of our U.S. cities take such drastic measures. I'm a strong believer in advertising, including its positive contribution to democracy and capitalism. Some venues are attractive precisely because of advertising. But it's probably not a bad idea for the advertising industry to voluntarily rein in its own addiction, and begin instituting boundaries, particularly in public spaces.

The rationale is simple: It's one thing for uncontrollable advertising clutter to denigrate commercial media platforms like television, Web sites, radio channels or print. This kind of clutter can be easily ignored, boycotted, turned off or avoided through ad-blocking technology; it exists only if granted attention. And people are doing just that, in increasing numbers, because they've had enough clutter and irrelevancy. They want more control.

But advertising clutter in public spaces is very different. Public spaces belong to all of us, and they become what we collectively make of them. Moreover, we simply don't have the same ability to avoid public spaces should we feel invaded. They're immersive and located where we live. That clutter is even extending our definition of public, to include venues such as textbooks, classrooms, movie theaters and planes.

In a world where people are becoming increasingly sophisticated in managing their media intake, more advertising in public spaces risks alienating more people. And if that buzzword "sustainability" continues rising and becomes a public value, then sprawling public advertising as we know it is likely to hit much more scrutiny.

So many advertising venues already are a tragedy of the commons, but must we extend that plight to our public spaces? Can't we get it under control?

1 comment about "Should Advertising Be Banned?".
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  1. Susan Chuck, May 19, 2009 at 10:48 p.m.

    I live in Vermont, we don't allow billboards to pollute our gorgeous landscape - and no one misses them. I remember when they tore them down in the 60's. When I go to other states I hate being bombarded with signs. It's very stressful. Hooray to VT for being the first to stand up for the landscape. Hey, we're the first in a lot of things. Barbie dolls and McDonald's are both banned in our capitol city of Montpelier too - no one misses them either!

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