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Adfree Cities

adfreecities.org.uk

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Re: Adfree Cities

#111

Post by vlovich123 »

legitster wrote: post #69

I'll be the contrarian here and say that I actually like certain advertisements and billboards. If you are stuck in traffic or on a bus in an ugly urban hellscape, is a billboard really that bad? I'm sorry, they are not going to plant trees in Times Square to replace the billboards. Even in their own press photos, they are showing several billboards that are covering up even uglier buildings! Maybe you are an enlight…

Billboards distract drivers and are a safety hazard. They’re also lit up like crazy and are an extra hazard at night not to mention the light pollution.

Advertising for local events should be allowed under some carve out but it would be nice if the vast majority of ads died as they’re not that. Here in SF for example when entering or leaving the city the ads are full of coke, Disney, Apple or Google phones, or various startups trying to show VCs their money is being put to good use (same thing film studios do in LA putting awards nominations and tv ada on billboards on the route to work/home of influential money people on a given project)

Re: Adfree Cities

#112

Post by Nagyman »

okr wrote: post #78
helen___keller wrote: post #12

I understand why people hate advertising but if I’m honest, I don’t agree with having an “adfree city”. I personally like the aesthetic of visual overload that you find in ad-laden cities (let’s say in Tokyo). It makes the space feel living, breathing, and alive, which a city should be. And then the visually quiet spaces, like temples and parks, feel much more sweet. Also at a conceptual level I disagree with the jus…

To be honest, i have experienced socialist and communist countries, and i never want to go back to this cold, adfree world with its purely functional esthetics. I can understand the aversion for the Ad-Overload, but no Ads, nah, i want it colorful, shiny and blinking. :)

I too enjoy colourful and shiny, but adfree does not imply purely functional aesthetics.

Can you imagine another possible scenario?

Re: Adfree Cities

#113

Post by secabeen »

Santa Barbara, CA has banned most billboards and outdoor advertising for many years; it's quite refreshing. Being back in LA or SF where it's allowed is somewhat jarring, honestly.

Re: Adfree Cities

#114

Post by moolcool »

germandiago wrote: post #67

This is totally double-edged. We get information from the environment as well. If advertisements get forbidden they could easily get replaced by "good things to do" monopoly gobernments. Namely, propaganda. Also, ads make life for many people. I think regulation is enough. Forbiding would be harmful IMHO as a whole.

> Also, ads make life for many people.

What?

Re: Adfree Cities

#115

Post by digging »

celestialcheese wrote: post #87
digging wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that you can advertise in cities is the reason that big tech doesn't capture 100% of profits in every single market. I really don't think this is true. What evidence leads you to believe that? > Advertising in cities, from billboards to flyers to stickers is the only way to reach people directly Most billboards are from [inter]national corporations. Local businesses usually rely on the most effective form…

> > Advertising in cities, from billboards to flyers to stickers is the only way to reach people directly > Most billboards are from [inter]national corporations. Local businesses usually rely on the most effective form of advertising, word-of-mouth. Some of the most successful local businesses in my city have literally never paid for advertising. Are they? From my experience, at least on roads here in the US, the ma…

I could be wrong. Maybe the majority are those sorts of local businesses.

What I never seem to see is local businesses I actually want to visit. The cool vintage stores, the goth stores, the retro game shops, the hole-in-the-wall Filipino restaurants, the local craft supply stores, the cat cafes, the weird toy stores, the artisan candy stores, the dubious bone and bone decor shops, the gay book stores, the Japanese import stores, the handmade ceramic planters store... you get the picture. The lifeblood of a city is not what's on its billboards.

Re: Adfree Cities

#116

Post by bondarchuk »

legitster wrote: post #69

I'll be the contrarian here and say that I actually like certain advertisements and billboards. If you are stuck in traffic or on a bus in an ugly urban hellscape, is a billboard really that bad? I'm sorry, they are not going to plant trees in Times Square to replace the billboards. Even in their own press photos, they are showing several billboards that are covering up even uglier buildings! Maybe you are an enlight…

>Maybe you are an enlightened individual and want to put an end to consumerism and society. In the meantime I personally still buy things and shop.

Do you really see the removal of advertising from public space as this much of a threat to your way of life? Your sarcastic remark about ending consumerism and society sounds quite hateful towards people who don't want to see advertising, whereas (speaking from myself at least) I feel no hate at all towards people who don't mind ads. My preference for not viewing ads comes purely from my own personal annoyance that I experience whenever I see them, it does not come from any kind of hate or dislike towards people like you who don't mind them, and I don't really want to change anyone's lifestyle.

Re: Adfree Cities

#117

Post by maxwell »

sunday_serif wrote: post #23

Not so long ago, I was traveling around Switzerland. During my time in the country, there was always something just a little off, and I couldn’t place what it was. Was it cleaner? Was the architecture just very modernist? Did it have something to do with the season? Eventually, I realized that the difference I was noticing between Switzerland and California (my home state) was that there was simply much less advertis…

Yeah I've heard several people report similar "little off but I love it" feelings when visiting here in Maine. The obnoxious billboards always bugged me around Chicago as a kid, but my kids enjoy the novelty when traveling. Similar with TV: we got a digital bunny ear and they were all excited about the commercials, as they've seen so few in their lives (YouTube Premium, streaming, discs/drives, etc.).

Re: Adfree Cities

#118

Post by RivieraKid »

Interesting that I've been noticing similar sentiment (people focusing on making public spaces nicer and ad-free) in the Czech Republic as well. It seems related to covid but I think it started earlier.

Re: Adfree Cities

#119

Post by alwayslikethis »

sphars wrote: post #14
tylervigen wrote: post #6

I have personally gotten very aggressive at removing as many ads from my life as I can. I pay for the "premium" version of everything I can to remove ads (Spotify, YouTube, podcast subscriptions) and use adblocker aggressively. It's so much nicer than the alternative. There are two places where ads remain: 1) Social media where the ads are integrated and not blocked (Facebook, YouTube in-video promos) 2) Billboards i…

For integrated ads on YouTube (sponsor messages), you can use the SponsorBlock extension ( https://sponsor.ajay.app/ ). If you're using Android, you can also get NewPipe with SponsorBlock integration.

If you can't use NewPipe, you can also.get Youtube ReVanced which also has sponsorblock

Re: Adfree Cities

#120

Post by easton »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #110
tylervigen wrote: post #6

I have personally gotten very aggressive at removing as many ads from my life as I can. I pay for the "premium" version of everything I can to remove ads (Spotify, YouTube, podcast subscriptions) and use adblocker aggressively. It's so much nicer than the alternative. There are two places where ads remain: 1) Social media where the ads are integrated and not blocked (Facebook, YouTube in-video promos) 2) Billboards i…

If you ever visit washington DC it is absolutely wild the kind of things that are advertised via billboard. Raytheon making sure everyone knows where to get their missiles etc.

I still think it's super wild, but after thinking about it it's a lot like IT in big companies. Someone cold emails your boss and all of the sudden you're demoing some random doodad. In DC, your boss sees a fighter jet engine upgrade ad when walking into the Pentagon from the metro, and...

(I literally saw that exact ad at the pentagon metro station. who buys a 30 million dollar engine upgrade off of a metro ad?)

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