[sustran] Sao Paulo bans outdoor advertising

[Lloyd Wright]

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
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