Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

good.is

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 122 posts

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#21

Post by rhizome »

ars wrote: post #18
jxcole wrote: post #3

I would be interested to see before and after shots. Was their advertising problem really so bad or was just about the same as any other city? Edit: Found one: http://banbillboardblight.org/?page_id=4251

After watching that, I could easily support banning 3rd party advertising. But removing the ads for the business just under the ad does not strike me as better. It makes the business district look sleepy and quiet, rather than active and bustling. And as a resident I don't mind ads telling me what I can do/get/buy at a location - that's sort of what I want when I visit a business district.

It makes the business district look sleepy and quiet, rather than active and bustling.

Only to people looking at pictures on the internet. When you're there, there's just as much commerce happening as ever. Note that Brazil is one of the few countries that was able to evade the global rape that the finanical industries committed over the past few years.

What was the last thing you bought that was directly attributable to seeing a street advertisement at a location?

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#22

Post by wr1472 »

rhygar wrote: post #20

The cost of this is a loss of jobs for sign makers (and their suppliers), marketing agencies, and a loss of income for new businesses (and their suppliers) that want to make their presence known. Basically, the economy in that city is worse off overall as a result, and there are fewer jobs to go around.

They said the same thing about technological advancements during the industrial revolution...

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#24

Post by dconway »

spindritf wrote: post #7

I actually enjoy advertising in the city, especially '90s-style neons, bus stop billboards, and those illegally plastered on construction site fences. I feel like I'm the only person who does. It makes the city look vibrant, and often covers up some of the... less successful architectural experiments.

You're not the only one. The ads are often funny, or beautiful. Flashing lights (in my opinion) help give cities that city feeling.

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#25

Post by JerusaEnt »

jobu wrote: post #4
jxcole wrote: post #3

I would be interested to see before and after shots. Was their advertising problem really so bad or was just about the same as any other city? Edit: Found one: http://banbillboardblight.org/?page_id=4251

So they didn't eliminate all signage, but it was rather dramatically reduced. I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis that had similar restrictions on advertising, and I can say that it is very nice as a resident. Now when I visit however, I find it difficult to locate some of the new businesses. I'm curious how this law has affected business revenue from tourists in Sao Paulo.

"So they didn't eliminate all signage, but it was rather dramatically reduced."

I was actually paying attention to that. They allowed business to put up their own sign on their own residence, but not other ads. For example you see the Mcdonalds sign at the Mcdonalds, the Xerox sign at the Xerox, and the Shell sign at the Shell. But I didn't notice anything other then that.

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#27

Post by hanskuder »

I've always seen advertising as a game of iterated prisoner's dilemma. If every business cooperated and agreed to not advertise, consumers would still be able to seek and find products and services they wanted, and businesses wouldn't need to spend money on ads. As soon as one business started to buy ads, however, they'd have an immense advantage and competitors would quickly follow suit. So as soon as one business stops cooperating and starts advertising, the entire market devolves into the equilibrium we see today: our lives are completely saturated with ads.

The fact that business can carry on as usual when everyone is forced to cooperate in Sao Paulo shows that advertising is mostly a huge inefficiency.

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#29

Post by rhygar »

wr1472 wrote: post #22
rhygar wrote: post #20

The cost of this is a loss of jobs for sign makers (and their suppliers), marketing agencies, and a loss of income for new businesses (and their suppliers) that want to make their presence known. Basically, the economy in that city is worse off overall as a result, and there are fewer jobs to go around.

They said the same thing about technological advancements during the industrial revolution...

Bzzzt! Wrong. This is not a technical innovation. This is government regulation of a market.

Re: A Happy, Flourishing City With No Advertising

#30

Post by mshron »

rhygar wrote: post #29
wr1472 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They said the same thing about technological advancements during the industrial revolution...

Bzzzt! Wrong. This is not a technical innovation. This is government regulation of a market.

... where there are serious externalities. Isn't this where government regulation is most suited?
Post reply on HN