[sustran] [Fwd: [carfree_network] Re: Sao Paulo bans outdoor advertising]

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

/JCDecaux/ and Clear Channel in Sao Paulo...

... kinda reminds me of how tyre and bus companies did their part in 
destroying tram system in Los Angeles....

- T

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[carfree_network] Re: Sao Paulo bans outdoor advertising
Date: 	Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:53:08 -0200
From: 	Thiago Benicchio <benicchio at gmail.com>
CC: 	'WCN list' <carfree_network at lists.riseup.net>
References: 	<000401c80c3b$60bc5c20$6500a8c0 at Nikita>



Dear friends,
It's been a while since this messa circulated, but I just can answer now.

Sao Paulo as an ad-free city is a lie. I mean, not exactly a lie, but 
only part of the true.

It's true that our mayor banned ads since the begining of 2007. But, 
ironicaly, it's just marketing mixed with the intention to benefit 
exactly the same JC Decaux and Clear Channel that now make this theater 
complaining about the "Clean City" law. Political propaganda mixed with 
privatisation of urban landscape to huge propaganda corporations.

I explain: the "Clean City" consists in two stages. The first one is in 
curse now: removing all ads from the city and limiting the size of 
comercial buildings signs. Who lost? Small (and not so small) propaganda 
companies that, for sure, polluted the city for years. But they were 
"just making bussiness", I mean, they were not breaking any law. Along 
with this regular companies, there were a lot of irregular ads in Sao 
Paulo.

The second stage consists in privitising urban furniture (as trash cans 
and bus stops), giving the concessionaires the right to explore ads on 
those places. The privatization of urban space will divide the city in 3 
or 4 areas and the private companies will be responsible for installing 
and mantaining bus stops, trash cans and benches... It's good to 
remember that Sao Paulo is the hugest South America city, so the 
companies who intend to explore this areas must be the big ones (as 
Clear Channel or JC). And that's the main issue that local ad companies 
are complaining: they will have no chance to beat the ad-giants.

Sumarizing the two stages:
1) first: eliminate ads and local ad companies by making public space 
ads ilegal
2) sell (or rent) public space to huge ad companies
3) allow ads again on specific places

That's not conspiracy stuff, it's an open plan and a political decision. 
It's being openly publicized, including major newspapers (as the one I 
took the article attached. Sorry, only in portuguese, but maybe some 
babelfish translation can make some work).

Brazil (and a huge part of the global south) has experienced a huge 
privatisation era on the 90s and the results are far from good. That's 
why it's hard to belive that Clear Channel will install and mantain bus 
stops in the suburbs of Sao Paulo. These companies are only for the 
money and have different behaviors on different parts of the world: 
where there's an minimally organized civil society (as in Europe), they 
make things without pushing it too hard. Where there were no civil 
society and the political scenario looks like Feudalism, they just want 
to make fast money.

That's why I don't think the discussion about acting against JC Decaux 
in Paris was naif, as discussed before. Not every pro-bike action is a 
pro-Humanity action. Bikes are not gods, and cars are not devils.

BTW: november 23, Buy Nothing Day (http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/)

peace,

--
Thiago Benicchio
http://apocalipsemotorizado.net


Lloyd Wright wrote:
> Given the recent exchange regarding Paris Velib's proliferation of 
> outdoor advertising, I thought the following article might be of interest.
>
> http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9963268
>
> Outdoor advertising
>
>
>   Visual pollution
>
> Oct 11th 2007
> >From /The Economist/ print edition
>
>
>     Advertising firms fret over billboard bans
>
> “THE ban on outdoor advertising in São Paulo is illegal and we will 
> prove this,” says Paul Meyer, chief operating officer of America's 
> Clear Channel Outdoor, the world's biggest outdoor-advertising 
> company. The councillors of Brazil's biggest city passed an ordinance 
> banning billboards last September, and Clear Channel is suing to have 
> it overturned. Mr Meyer says his firm's lawyers are confident that it 
> will be declared unconstitutional. “The destruction of a business 
> would certainly be against the law in America,” he adds.
>
> Yet bans on billboards exist in other parts of the world—even America. 
> Vermont, Maine, Hawaii and Alaska all prohibit them, as do some 1,500 
> towns. In Europe, the Norwegian city of Bergen does the same and many 
> others are imposing severe restrictions on billboards: the mayor of 
> Moscow, for example, is about to introduce regulation to reduce their 
> number and size.
>
> Even so, no big city had ever imposed a complete ban on billboards 
> before São Paulo. The “Clean City” law also bans ads on taxis and 
> buses and imposes strict limits on shopfront signs. Previously, most 
> of São Paulo's billboards had been erected without permission, 
> although Clear Channel had spent some $2m to comply with pre-ban rules 
> on outdoor ads.
>
> São Paulo is now ad-free. Many inhabitants of the metropolis of 11m 
> think their city is prettier as a result. Inspired by its success, Rio 
> de Janeiro, Brasília and Porto Alegre and even Buenos Aires, capital 
> of Brazil's neighbour Argentina, are discussing measures to reduce or 
> ban outdoor ads.
>
> “This might only be the beginning,” warns Jean-François Decaux, 
> chairman of JCDecaux, the second-biggest outdoor advertising company. 
> In his view local companies must work together to pull down illegal 
> billboards. Otherwise many other cities, especially in emerging 
> economies, will be tempted to follow the Brazilian example.
>
> For Robert Weissman of Commercial Alert, a lobby group, São Paulo's 
> move is excellent news. Public space must not be abused for private 
> commercial purposes, he says. Yet Mr Decaux argues that outdoor 
> advertisers pay municipal authorities good money for the use of public 
> space. They sometimes also provide cities with bus shelters, public 
> loos and so forth in exchange for the right to place advertisements on 
> them.
>
> This trade gives outdoor advertisers and local authorities a strong 
> incentive to work with one another. Messrs Decaux and Meyer say they 
> are in favour of good regulation and strong enforcement. They point 
> out that the proliferation of illegal billboards is bad for business 
> because it distracts attention from legal ones. And the more legal 
> advertising there is, the more reluctant city governments will be to 
> part with the revenue and services it brings.
>
> Regardless of the outcome of Clear Channel's lawsuit, São Paulo may 
> well reintroduce advertising one day, for just those sorts of reasons. 
> City governments, after all, are almost always short of cash—and it is 
> no exception.
>
> *Lloyd Wright*
> *Executive Director*
> *Viva*
> *Robles 653 y Av. Amazonas*
> *Oficinas 601-602-603*
> *Quito*
> *Ecuador*
> *Tel. +593 2 255 1492*
> *Mobile +593 9 577 6500*
> *Fax +1 877 350 0910*
> *Email **lwright at vivacities.org* <mailto:lwright at vivacities.org>
> *Web **www.vivacities.org* <http://www.vivacities.org/>
> "Viva...changing the world one street at a time."

-- 
--------------------------------------------

Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

Korunní 72
CZ-10100 Praha 10
Czech Republic

Skype: toddedelman
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++420 222 517 832

edelman at greenidea.eu
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Green Idea Factory is a member of World Carfree Network
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