Amsterdam city council has passed a legally binding ban on advertising for fossil fuels and meat products across public spaces in the city, becoming the first capital in the world to prohibit such ads through local law.
The city council voted 27-17 on Thursday (January 22) to approve the measure, which from May 1 prohibits advertising for high-carbon products and services such as flights, petrol and diesel vehicles, gas heating contracts and meat products across all public spaces in the city, including on buses, trams, and in metro and train stations.
The day before the vote, JCDecaux — the world’s largest outdoor advertising operator, controlling ad space on bus shelters, billboards, and street furniture, all of which are covered by the ban — sent an email to all party groups in the Amsterdam city council, warning the ban would have “far-reaching financial and legal consequences”.
The ban covers product advertising –– ads for flights, petrol cars, and meat –– but not corporate branding by fossil fuel and aviation companies, which can continue until contracts expire. Fossil fuel companies and other high-carbon industries can still run campaigns in public spaces, as long as they don’t advertise specific products. That continues until Amsterdam’s contract with JCDecaux expires in 2028, after which all corporate advertising will be prohibited under the new terms.
I’d support efforts to kill any kind of ads on public spaces, so, good for them.
So the headline lies. They didn’t ban fossil fuel ads, they refused to put them on publicly owned property. That’s a big difference. It’s a positive step for sure, but the fact that public space is for rent be giant corporations is already a problem. Cities should be using that space to promote the city, it’s people, and make it a better place to live. Not get scraps from giant corporations to let them use our own property against us.
