Live data from Hacker News

Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

amusingplanet.com

51–60 of 428 posts

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#51

Boca Raton doesn't allow billboards, car dealerships, or Walmarts. We don't normally notice it, but these things jar us as soon as we go to neighboring towns. It's a subtle improvement of outdoor experience (more architecture and green spaces) that percolates into quality of life. A good analogy of this may be browsing the web with ad blockers--pages with ads are busier, noisier, and load more slowly; yes, if the pag…

> A good analogy of this may be browsing the web with ad blockers--pages with ads are busier, noisier, and load more slowly; yes, if the page content is bland, removing the ads will make it blander.

A great example. If there were no ads, the web, and this site, wouldn't exist. Moderation in general is key. This site for example has a single advert which is the top banner, as well as job postings. Subtle and allows the site to fulfill its purpose commercially and create a venue for discussion.

Banning this site (which is really an ad, by the way) would benefit no one.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#53
post #37

Some 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 la…

Many of those full building graffiti are the beautiful work of renowned street artist Eduardo Kobra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Kobra

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#54
post #37

Some 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 la…

The full building murals today are some of the most sought after attractions of SP, they look absolutely stunning https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/world/americas/brazil-sao...

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#55
post #9

> Seven years on, the world's fourth-largest metropolis and South America’s most important city remains free of visual clutter and eye sore that plagues the majority of cities around the world. Unfortunately it suffers greatly - to a ridiculous level, in some places - from that ugliest kind of grafitti, convoluted "tags" made in single-stroke black ink I'm not sure if that is the case everywhere but in Brazil people…

does the amount of tagging/bombing influence the rent prices there?

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#56
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

I'm curious - what's something that's not an eyesore? People think art is, graffiti, even buildings, etc. The difference is some of these generates money for governments to solve actual problems, and the others... do not.

Most people don't think that nature is an eyesore, and many national parks are significant tourism generators for their local economies.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#57
post #37

Some 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 la…

> 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

Nearly all of these look like murals, not graffiti (these are distinct forms of street art). Regardless, those photos are beautiful and I'd love to have those instead of billboards in my city.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#58
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious - what's something that's not an eyesore? People think art is, graffiti, even buildings, etc. The difference is some of these generates money for governments to solve actual problems, and the others... do not.

Most people don't think that nature is an eyesore, and many national parks are significant tourism generators for their local economies.

I’m not sure concrete buildings are natural, and these ads were not found primarily in national parks so I don’t see the relevance.

Ironically most of the arguments against ads also apply to housing which is why there’s a global housing crisis. A lack of nuanced thinking about trade offs

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#59

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.

[flagged]

Looks like tourism is 20% of Maine's economy, and keeping your landscape beautiful is an important part of attracting tourists. Billboards are eyesores that reduce the beauty of your surroundings, so it's natural to ban them.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#60

Boca Raton doesn't allow billboards, car dealerships, or Walmarts. We don't normally notice it, but these things jar us as soon as we go to neighboring towns. It's a subtle improvement of outdoor experience (more architecture and green spaces) that percolates into quality of life. A good analogy of this may be browsing the web with ad blockers--pages with ads are busier, noisier, and load more slowly; yes, if the pag…

> A good analogy of this may be browsing the web with ad blockers--pages with ads are busier, noisier, and load more slowly; yes, if the page content is bland, removing the ads will make it blander. A great example. If there were no ads, the web, and this site, wouldn't exist. Moderation in general is key. This site for example has a single advert which is the top banner, as well as job postings. Subtle and allows th…

> If there were no ads, the web, and this site, wouldn't exist.

This is quite untrue. There was a useful web long before advertisers got their grubby hooks in it.

Post reply on HN