In the US, the state of Maine does not allow billboards. It's a thing I didn't notice until living elsewhere, and it's really nice.
Vermont too!
Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
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Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#32Love the idea, but the execution can be better. The photos show empty billboard frames, remnants of old ads against walls, etc., making things look dilapidated but not in an Anthens-ancient-ruin kind of way.
The article and photos are from 2011....
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#33Interesting from someone that leaves in SP for 2 years and just spend about 40 days in Berlin and 21 in NY last year, this doesn’t seem to resonate as such a big difference. Berlin almost doesn’t have any billboards and NY I didn’t saw it bothered me, at least in Brooklyn. Curious on how SP was in the past. Unfortunately the city has way worst problems then billboards.
Meanwhile, I find NYS's inundation of billboards downright depressing. It's just ugly, even in places that ought to be beautiful upstate. When I cross the border into Vermont, which bans ads on roads except for simple business signage, the difference is tangible.
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#34In the US, the state of Maine does not allow billboards. It's a thing I didn't notice until living elsewhere, and it's really nice.
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Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#35Interesting from someone that leaves in SP for 2 years and just spend about 40 days in Berlin and 21 in NY last year, this doesn’t seem to resonate as such a big difference. Berlin almost doesn’t have any billboards and NY I didn’t saw it bothered me, at least in Brooklyn. Curious on how SP was in the past. Unfortunately the city has way worst problems then billboards.
In Germany, outdoor advertising seems to be quite restricted in general, compared to the UK, for example. As a result, in cities and towns rich in post-WWII buildings one mostly sees similarly-looking walls, windows, and roofs everywhere.
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#36I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into it ("Ponte Hercilio Luz" if you want to search for photos).
For some god forsaken reason, someone got away with building a gigantic - and I mean GIGANTIC - screen billboard right in line of sight of this historic postcard. I don't recall when it was installed, but if you look at any photos of the bridge taken from the south since maybe 2015, it is there.
It is bright, it plays animated ads the entire day, and it is also perfectly aligned with the nearby major road Beira Mar Norte so that people driving south to the bridge see it just off to the side of their view where it won't be covered by transit.
Frankly just due to the animations I'm surprised it is not banned as an epilepsy hazard, but alas, money speaks louder than reason, and one of the most iconic and beloved sights in this city is now tainted with the most vapid disservice to humanity.
Here's a screenshot of Google Street View: https://i.imgur.com/OXeVkuq.jpg (annotated as their camera doesn't pick up on the brightness during the day due to sea haziness)
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#37Some additions:
Stores also cannot use their full façade for advertising. Branding colors and details are OK, but logos cannot be too large (don't know the exact rule). The law is picky.
Some stores cheat by having a glass façade, and using LEDs inside that glass. Like this: https://imgur.com/a/CLdUD1C
Since this law was adopted, there's been an increase in full building graffiti, which is not banned. Now 10 years later, it is more likely to see one of these nowadays than an empty outdoor frame https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=sao+paulo+full+buil...
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#38In the US, the state of Maine does not allow billboards. It's a thing I didn't notice until living elsewhere, and it's really nice.
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They’re not giving up much anyway regardless of their overall level of economic activity. These billboards are not just an eyesore but violate the public space at the expense of everyone else. Should be banned nationally (globally would be great too)
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I lived there. The adverts were making the city ugly. It was a massive improvement when we got rid of them.
Luckily there is something in between "ugly advertisements" and "no advertisements at all"
Luckily this is just an article explaining one side of the law, and it's from 2001. Obviously, there are advertisements, but not on large billboards across the city. Sometimes, I feel like this site is no different from a Twitter thread. There are so many uninformed people making comments about things they have no clue about.
Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)
#40Interesting from someone that leaves in SP for 2 years and just spend about 40 days in Berlin and 21 in NY last year, this doesn’t seem to resonate as such a big difference. Berlin almost doesn’t have any billboards and NY I didn’t saw it bothered me, at least in Brooklyn. Curious on how SP was in the past. Unfortunately the city has way worst problems then billboards.
I worked in São Paulo before and after this law was enacted. The difference was honestly massive, there used to be billboards plastered all over the city: across any walls or free space around major avenues (imagine the whole perimeter of Congonhas airport with Av. dos Bandeirantes covered by giant billboards floating over the walls), on the visible sides of tall buildings towards major streets, there were billboards stacked on top of others around avenues overpassing other roads (seeing 2 or 3-stack wasn't uncommon). With technological advances then came the massive displays, blinking with lights, completely littering your sight with moving images, flashes, etc.
After those were torn down, and signs around commercial spaces were restricted to a maximum allowed diagonal, it felt like your eyes had at least some rest, even though the city is still an eye sore for most of it, you didn't feel eye fatigued just by driving around some 30 minutes. It's hard to describe the difference, a constant, loud background noise seemed to disappear, at least for me.