NO to ads!

The City That Said No to Advertising

"A city stripped of advertising. No Posters. No flyers. No ads on buses. No ads on trains. No Adshels, no 48-sheets, no nothing." Sao Paulo, Brazil, had had enough. Tired of the 'visual pollution,' of a city littered with ads and more than 8,000 billboards, the city's mayor Gilberto Kassab simply said no more and placed a ban on outdoor advertising. But the decision has not come without strong debate on both sides of the issue: The law was hailed by writer Roberto Pompeu de Toledo as "a rare victory of the public interest over private, of order over disorder, aesthetics over ugliness, of cleanliness over trash... For once, all that is accustomed to coming out on top in Brazil has lost." (Thanks to Brewing Culture for the information.)

THIS IS AMAZING. I think there's way to much noise in our culture - audio and visual.
What would our city look like without billboards? Think of the main street closest to your home. Imagine the regular billboards, large signs, bus ads, McDonald's sign, etc. Now paint them all yellow. How much yellow would you see? There's all the visual noise coming your way.

The people at www.adbusters.org probably have more to say about it. Geez Magazine might have more perspectives from time to time.