French cities trying to ban public adverts
theguardian.com
French cities trying to ban public adverts
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Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#2A general sentiment I see here is that ads should be banned, but what can be done in the US? The First Amendment protects truthful advertisements. In addition, we have the FTC for misleading and lying ads (although their success is not what it should be (case in point: OutBrain and Taboola)). So, what do we do?
Further reading on the 1st Amendment and advertising: http://www.lawpublish.com/amend1.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Hudson_Gas_%26_Electri...
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#3A general sentiment I see here is that ads should be banned, but what can be done in the US? The First Amendment protects truthful advertisements. In addition, we have the FTC for misleading and lying ads (although their success is not what it should be (case in point: OutBrain and Taboola)). So, what do we do? Further reading on the 1st Amendment and advertising: http://www.lawpublish.com/amend1.html https://en.wiki…
Generally, the first amendment restricts the ability to enact laws banning certain types of ads over other ads, but not laws banning all ads from certain areas. For example, four states — Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine — have banned billboard advertisements.[1] Vermont was the first to ban them in 1968[2] and these laws haven't been challenged on first amendment grounds, though presumably their passages were fought.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard#Laws_limiting_billbo...
[2]: https://vnrc.org/community-planning-toolbox/tools/billboard-...
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#4A general sentiment I see here is that ads should be banned, but what can be done in the US? The First Amendment protects truthful advertisements. In addition, we have the FTC for misleading and lying ads (although their success is not what it should be (case in point: OutBrain and Taboola)). So, what do we do? Further reading on the 1st Amendment and advertising: http://www.lawpublish.com/amend1.html https://en.wiki…
There is no part of the 1st Amendment that states that people need to read your advertising, additionally some states (like VT) have full bans on billboards - regardless of the reasoning for this that ban has been upheld and private citizens can't compel the state to allow placement of billboards on public property - there are also various style related laws (in Boston you need a special permit when constructing on Beacon Hill that makes it very difficult to build non-brick faced buildings) there is nothing illegal at a constitutional level in either of these cases. The 1st Amendment prevents discrimination of advertising (you can't chose to disallow ads for raspberries but be all in for strawberry ads because you, the mayor, find raspberries offensive) but there is no guarantee to the right of other people's attention.
Advertisements on public property can absolutely be banned and, possibly with an ordnance, I believe you could heavily restrict advertising on private property.
The government can't shut you up when expressing protected speech, but it doesn't have to help you talk, nor does it have to make people listen to you.
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#5It's kind of an open secret that the city of Santa Barbara (CA, US) has banned several forms of public outdoor advertising: we have no billboards, no promotional posters, no taxi toppers... It's delightful, and very high on my list of reasons why I enjoy living here. Every time I leave I'm reminded how noisy space is when it's filled with advertisements. I wholeheartedly recommend others advocate for similar policies in their municipality - it can be done!
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#6It's kind of an open secret that the city of Santa Barbara (CA, US) has banned several forms of public outdoor advertising: we have no billboards, no promotional posters, no taxi toppers... It's delightful, and very high on my list of reasons why I enjoy living here. Every time I leave I'm reminded how noisy space is when it's filled with advertisements. I wholeheartedly recommend others advocate for similar policies…
Taxi toppers are an interesting one to ban - I suppose the city can simply refuse to license taxis that refuse to sign a contract agreeing to not use toppers but any advertisement on a private not otherwise restricted vehicle would be the providence of the state DMV - possibly... I'm not certain how a lawsuit would come down trying to determine if vehicle appearance could be restricted by a state or if that right was withheld by the federal government.
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#7A general sentiment I see here is that ads should be banned, but what can be done in the US? The First Amendment protects truthful advertisements. In addition, we have the FTC for misleading and lying ads (although their success is not what it should be (case in point: OutBrain and Taboola)). So, what do we do? Further reading on the 1st Amendment and advertising: http://www.lawpublish.com/amend1.html https://en.wiki…
Perhaps common law precedent screws us over. But I don't see a problem in principle following the spirit, or even word of the written law:
1) Spying ads absolutely are more than speech: the information flow is bidirectional, and the 1st amendment isn't a right to listen.
2) It could be argued that the state cannot sell advertisements without privileging one message over another; currently "non-political ad" rules already contested, and they are even more of laughing stock beyond that once one considers that all commerce and economic activity is political. Only laws that limit the amount of messaging rather than the content are truly unbiased.
3) For private ads, while the owner of the building owns the surface where the ad is, I don't think it is fair to say they own the sight lines to the building. The problem with ADs is they can literally leave you nowhere to look when you are moving in public spaces the advertiser definitely doesn't own. I think a comparison could be made with EM spectrum law. Just because you own the antenna doesn't mean you can broadcast whatever you like. Electric adds that have their own lighting are certainly broadcasters. And if passive things like giant RFIDs are regulated, We could probably get non-illuminated ads also to be regulated.
So assuming all the above gets through the courts, we can do nothing about urinal ads in private establishments, but we can clean up public spaces completely, or at least limit them to non-illuminated ads. At that point, I hope the remaining indoor ads would be far more annoying in relative terms, and that would create some helpful economic pressure for the owner to tamp them down.
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#8It's kind of an open secret that the city of Santa Barbara (CA, US) has banned several forms of public outdoor advertising: we have no billboards, no promotional posters, no taxi toppers... It's delightful, and very high on my list of reasons why I enjoy living here. Every time I leave I'm reminded how noisy space is when it's filled with advertisements. I wholeheartedly recommend others advocate for similar policies…
thats nice. They prbly have a good tax base that doesn't need this extra revenue stream. property tax is decent enough revenue where median home is > 1 mil.
> I enjoy living here
Yea its a given that its nice to live where people earn more and live in expensive homes :D
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#9I think in the near future we'll have empirical evidence that most ads are malicious exploits of flaws in human psychology.
Ideally, all ads should be plain text listing of facts. Pictures only allowed for demonstrative purposes. And they should be listed in "Ad sections", like a phone book.
Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts
#10It's kind of an open secret that the city of Santa Barbara (CA, US) has banned several forms of public outdoor advertising: we have no billboards, no promotional posters, no taxi toppers... It's delightful, and very high on my list of reasons why I enjoy living here. Every time I leave I'm reminded how noisy space is when it's filled with advertisements. I wholeheartedly recommend others advocate for similar policies…
Sao Paulo did the same: