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French cities trying to ban public adverts

theguardian.com

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Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#11

Post by sosborn »

ajna91 wrote: post #9

I 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.

> plain text listing of facts

Coca-Cola tastes great!

Coca-Cola gives you an extra pep in your step!

Coca-Cola will rot you teeth!

These are all true statements (the first one is subjective, I'll admit), but I suspect that many believe the effect of plain test listing of facts would only allow the third statement.

> Pictures only allowed for demonstrative purposes.

Wouldn't a photo of someone drinking a Coke and enjoying it be allowed under this rule?

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#13

Post by docdeek »

In Lyon the public ad space was traded to an ad company in exchange for funding and maintaining the city's public bike share scheme. It's a trade off, of course, but for just 30 euros à year I (and the rest of the city) get virtually unlimited bike share.

The anti-ad groups here would be happy for the public ads to disappear but it would be a real shame if the affordable bike share went with it.

FWIW there is a real debate about who got the better side of the deal between the city and the ad company, but the Velov scheme is great. :)

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#14

Post by magwa101 »

docdeek wrote: post #13

In Lyon the public ad space was traded to an ad company in exchange for funding and maintaining the city's public bike share scheme. It's a trade off, of course, but for just 30 euros à year I (and the rest of the city) get virtually unlimited bike share. The anti-ad groups here would be happy for the public ads to disappear but it would be a real shame if the affordable bike share went with it. FWIW there is a real…

They wouldn't buy the advertising if they couldn't make a profit on your attention. Pay with brain space, or pay through a tax. Which is more expensive?

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#16

Post by frenchyatwork »

sosborn wrote: post #11
ajna91 wrote: post #9

I 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.

> plain text listing of facts Coca-Cola tastes great! Coca-Cola gives you an extra pep in your step! Coca-Cola will rot you teeth! These are all true statements (the first one is subjective, I'll admit), but I suspect that many believe the effect of plain test listing of facts would only allow the third statement. > Pictures only allowed for demonstrative purposes. Wouldn't a photo of someone drinking a Coke and enjo…

Facts and advertisements are like apples and oranges. The notion of "plain text listing of fact" is pretty vague, though I'd personally classify none of those above statements as "plain text listing of facts", and all of them could be advertisements in the right context.

An advertisement is a communication designed to manipulate its recipient. Whether it's "true" or not is neither here nor there. In fact, a lot of advertisements are complete non-sequiturs, because those kinds of statements are less likely to make the listeners/viewers think critically about the statements.

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#17

Post by deogeo »

eugeniub wrote: post #3
colejohnson66 wrote: post #2

A 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 foug…

I should clarify the parent post - when they said "types of ads", what they really meant is the content. The 1st amendment forbids the government from discriminating on the content of a message, but they can restrict messaging in general. Though I believe there are limits to how much they can restrict that as well - a blanket ban on protests, for example, would likely not fly.

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#18

Post by Twirrim »

q845712 wrote: post #5

It'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…

Hawaii has a similar ban in place too. It's so nice not being bombarded by billboards in your day-to-day life. Definitely one of the things I've missed since moving from there.

Re: French cities trying to ban public adverts

#19

Post by oehpr »

sosborn wrote: post #11
ajna91 wrote: post #9

I 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.

> plain text listing of facts Coca-Cola tastes great! Coca-Cola gives you an extra pep in your step! Coca-Cola will rot you teeth! These are all true statements (the first one is subjective, I'll admit), but I suspect that many believe the effect of plain test listing of facts would only allow the third statement. > Pictures only allowed for demonstrative purposes. Wouldn't a photo of someone drinking a Coke and enjo…

I agree with you. And I suspect 9 out of 10 doctors do as well.

I want to neuter advertising more than anything, but I can't think of any kind of "rule" we could establish that would make public mind hacking illegal.

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