Sao Paulo, Brazil will be a lot less cluttered beginning on January 1, 2007. Amazingly, the city has passed a law that will ban all “visual pollution.” This means there will be no billboards, electronic signs or even fliers! Ad Age reports that “South America has no government regulation on its outdoor advertising, making a citywide ban in Sao Paulo all the easier to execute.” Although the article points to a number of communities in the United States that have strict advertising regulations (such as certain areas in Boston and the billboard-free highways of Vermont and Oregon), enacting laws to prevent the spread of outdoor advertising is easier said than done.
I read an article this week recently that made me think about all the advertising in New York City. Our crayon offices are located just a short walk up the avenue from Times Square where it seems to me there are more neon lights, advertising messages and visual stimulation per square inch than anywhere else in the world. There are so many flashing lights and visual messaging it’s hard to imagine that many of these billboards standout from one another. Who even really notices any of these messages?
Going to Times Square is like receiving a year’s supply of audio/visual junk mail in one day. It’s an incredible spectacle, but having been there thousands of times the only billboards that immediately come to mind are the Kodak sign and the Coca-Cola bottle. Certainly, I realize the major reason anyone goes to Times Square (especially the millions of tourists every year) besides the fine dining at Olive Garden or to visit the world’s largest T.G.I. Friday’s is to see all the lights and experience the frenzied advertising-filled atmosphere.
But would we really miss the advertisments if they were all outlawed?
Christopher Trela
chris
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