> Ads are much less an intrinsic cultural phenomenon than you think. We think they matter to culture simply because they exist, but their absence has no importa

> Ads are much less an intrinsic cultural phenomenon than you think. We think they matter to culture simply because they exist, but their absence has no important effect on it. The thing is, though, every culture, every city, is different, and you just don't know what the effect will be until you've done it. Maybe Tokyo and other Asian cities would turn out to be the same as São Paulo, but ... maybe they wouldn't. Because of this, and because it would be a major change, it's not something you want to do unless there's a lot of local support for it; it's something that needs to be locally driven. Maybe in São Paulo, there was such support, and in the end things worked out, which is great. But if nobody actually cares, it would be pretty silly to do it simply because of a "global movement."