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

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

#321
post #126
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…

Can't we replace ad banners on websites with free space to collectively draw on Q.Q .. we probably can't, it is too easy to automate it, and too hard to prevent that. But would be fun.

A long time ago back when browsers supported Java applets you could include applets in your banner ads. I worked at a place that had a product that included a chat service. The chat client was in Java and would have been quick and easy to convert into an applet.

I tried to convince the person in charge of our advertising that we should include such a chat applet in one of our banner ads, which would put everyone currently viewing the banner into an anonymous chatroom. Unfortunately he wouldn't go for it.

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

#324
post #62
post #36

I 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,…

Far less offensive but the DC metro got screen ads & it just so cheapens the experience. Used to be a kind of impressive semi-brutalist feeling, which isn't super fancy or anything. But now just tacky.

They're slowly ruining the vibe. Several stations raised the intensity of the lighting, painted the cement coffers, changed the warning lights from yellow to red, and some have even replaced the iconic floor tiles. The new trains in general are a travesty, too. The old ones had a warm 70s color scheme, warm lighting, and carpet that absorbed some of the track noise. The new ones are steel on the outside, white and blue on the inside, with cool lighting that clashes with the stations and hard surface floors that don't dampen noise at all (to say nothing of the redesigned seating, made uncomfortable to deal with a non-existent homeless rider situation). Oh, also, the first set of them were duds with major issues.

Walking into Metro stations and onto the trains used to be a calming experience, stepping out of the stress of the city or suburbs into a chill and welcoming atmosphere. Now, I can feel my blood pressure jump.

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

#326
post #325

Anytime I hear about outdoor advertising I think of a quote I saw in the book Civilized to Death. A long time ago man saw Times Square and sat in silence. A few people asked him what he thought. He said this would be beautiful if I couldn't read.

How was that book? Looks interesting.

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

#327
post #28

Interesting 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've been in São Paulo for a week, and the city feels depressing. The architecture is horrible, boring, and not well-maintained, especially when compared to the architecture of old European cities where at least the buildings are aesthetically pleasing. The excessive advertising only worsens the situation. I've also visited Berlin, and unfortunately, it too felt quite dull.

Berlin sure loves their concrete.

(I kind of agree. I have family in Berlin so I have visited them quite a bit during the past 20 years or so.)

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

#328

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…

>Boca Raton doesn't allow billboards, car dealerships, or Walmarts How does the Walmart prohibition work? Is there a law that prohibits Walmart specifically? How about Sam's Club?

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

#329

As an individual, I'd welcome no advertisements everywhere. I think ads were abused long enough. It's just a leech on the human life.

Funny enough, I agree with you in every context but this one. I don't want ads on tv or the internet, but I love Asian mega cities and think they'd look likely worse without the huge ads, especially the animated ones. Cyberpunk needs ads and I want cyberpunk dialed up to 11.

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

#330
post #325

Anytime I hear about outdoor advertising I think of a quote I saw in the book Civilized to Death. A long time ago man saw Times Square and sat in silence. A few people asked him what he thought. He said this would be beautiful if I couldn't read.

Ha I was just thinking a similar thing. I'm much more immune to adverts in a foreign country especially if they use a different alphabet all together.

I'm not quite sure I'd consider it beautiful, but it's mildly freeing nonetheless.

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