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I bet you'll love these before-and-after photos of Sao Paolo after their outdoor advertising ban: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secrets-

I bet you'll love these before-and-after photos of Sao Paolo after their outdoor advertising ban: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secrets-sao-paulo-uncovered-outdoor-advertising-ban/ https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secret... Anti-advertising was one of the pet causes of Generation X, back before more pressing things like "the war on terror" and a financial collapse and health care crisis took the stage. And those are bigger deals, but man, advertising is just awful too.

bmitc 5y ago
That’s absolutely amazing. In reading that, I had to ask myself several times if it was real or not. No one seems to make such bold and decisive decisions for good anymore.
radlad 5y ago
Getting a bit off-topic now, but I'm reminded of the song Logos by Faded Paper Figures looking at the photos of empty signs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_e7Qq2WKg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_e7Qq2WKg Signs on every mountain side, Line highways, stitching desert thread ... My soul goes with your logos, There's no place left to dream tonight
- I_complete_me 5y ago
  This is what jumped into my mind: I think that I shall never see A billboard lovely as a tree Indeed, unless the billboards fall I'll never see a tree at all. Ogden Nash
barbazoo 5y ago
I love that! Here where I live in Canada, billboards aren't allowed except on indigenous land. While I totally respect it, it's a horrible eyesore.
- pbourke 5y ago
  Kelowna?
  - barbazoo 5y ago
    Lower mainland.
  - moistly 5y ago
    Those fuuuuuucking flashing LED billboards on the WFN as you approach the corner to the bridge. So surprised no one is sabotaging those on the regular. Can’t believe they are legal.
throwawayboise 5y ago
Signs are ugly, but I don't think it's right to tell people they can't have a sign on their property. Property rights and freedom of speech are worth tolerating a bit of eyesore.
- ryeights 5y ago
  Disagree. We have regulations for noise levels emitting from people’s private property, for example, for the sake of public interest.
  - distribot 5y ago
    A person shouldn't be able to have signage above their business to indicate what it is, the phone number, etc? Not billboards, but literally a sign that says "Johnny's Bakery"
    - ryeights 5y ago
      This seems a bit disingenuous. It's an advertising ban, not a ban on any and all forms of signage. In the pictures of Sao Paulo you can clearly see that businesses still have small signs out front, presumably with the name of the business on them.
- kube-system 5y ago
  We frequently limit property rights and speech when it pollutes, disturbs, or otherwise negatively affects others. Is this a limit on property rights or an expansion of viewshed rights? It all depends on perspective.
- taurath 5y ago
  Note that there currently exists a line that prevents auditory distractions - the farm on the side of the road can put up signs but they can’t blast music or AM Radio from a loudspeaker. IMO it’s still about as distracting to the senses. I think the real difference is a whole generation who is used to linear TV has convinced themselves they can somehow tune it out. This isn’t true, but they’re much more likely to be against restrictions since it “doesn’t effect them” that much.
duderific 5y ago
If you happen to live in or visit the SF Bay Area, and drive on the 280 freeway between San Jose and San Francisco, you'll notice it feels a bit...odd. That's because billboards are banned along that stretch [1], and all you see is the beautiful green rolling hills. [1] https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-on-280 https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-...
- jliptzin 5y ago
  It seems strange to me someone would be allowed to put up billboards to begin with along public property. I assume the freeway is public property correct? It should be illegal to begin with without approval from the public.
  - burlesona 5y ago
    This may not be obvious, but the public land (Right of Way) for a freeway is very small compared to the visual range of a driver in a car, and the scale of "things you see while driving" is much larger than you would think. (Go stand next to an ordinary residential stop sign and then think about how big and high up it actually is compared to your mental model of it.) I'm not aware of any bill boards that are on public land (though some probably exist). Rather almost all bill boards are built on private land, or atop private buildings, as a revenue generator for the property owner. Anything within 500 feet of the road is viable, or even further away assuming a large sign. So for billboards to be prohibited there has to be land use regulation that says property owners can't build large signs. That is actually less trivial to enforce than you might think, because the line between a straight up advertising billboard and, say, the sign that lets you know there's a McDonald's at the next exit, is a little fuzzy. There's enormous pressure from business owners to permit large "marquee" signs so that drivers can spot their business from far back enough that they can easily get in the right lane, slow down, turn, etc. without missing it.
    - jfrunyon 5y ago
      There's also enormous pressure from the public to be able to find things, especially in the case of... you know, a McDonalds on the interstate with people driving by who are from the other side of the country. ;) I don't think most people have a problem with honest ads. The issue is the billboards that tell you "There's something amazing ahead!" and you pay $10 to get in and it's a stupid doll. Or the collections of a billion billboards for different things on a single building. Or the TV ads that use every trick in the book to try and manipulate you into buying a crappy product. Sadly businesses seem to be moving more and more towards "just spend all our money on marketing" rather than "just spend all our money on the product". (I'm looking at you, Plex.)
ok_dad 5y ago
Yea, in my home state, all big signs are banned; billboards, store signs, etc. Only a smallish sign is allowed for any given building or whatever. It's really nice.
muzani 5y ago
Those photos remind me of the contrast in software too. Compare today's Lemmings, with any other Lemmings that didn't run on an ad-based business model. Level design is significantly worse to allow it to run as many ads as possible.

bmitc 5y ago

That’s absolutely amazing. In reading that, I had to ask myself several times if it was real or not. No one seems to make such bold and decisive decisions for good anymore.

radlad 5y ago

Getting a bit off-topic now, but I'm reminded of the song Logos by Faded Paper Figures looking at the photos of empty signs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_e7Qq2WKg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_e7Qq2WKg Signs on every mountain side, Line highways, stitching desert thread ... My soul goes with your logos, There's no place left to dream tonight

I_complete_me 5y ago
This is what jumped into my mind: I think that I shall never see A billboard lovely as a tree Indeed, unless the billboards fall I'll never see a tree at all. Ogden Nash

barbazoo 5y ago

I love that! Here where I live in Canada, billboards aren't allowed except on indigenous land. While I totally respect it, it's a horrible eyesore.

pbourke 5y ago
Kelowna?
- barbazoo 5y ago
  Lower mainland.
- moistly 5y ago
  Those fuuuuuucking flashing LED billboards on the WFN as you approach the corner to the bridge. So surprised no one is sabotaging those on the regular. Can’t believe they are legal.

throwawayboise 5y ago

Signs are ugly, but I don't think it's right to tell people they can't have a sign on their property. Property rights and freedom of speech are worth tolerating a bit of eyesore.

ryeights 5y ago
Disagree. We have regulations for noise levels emitting from people’s private property, for example, for the sake of public interest.
- distribot 5y ago
  A person shouldn't be able to have signage above their business to indicate what it is, the phone number, etc? Not billboards, but literally a sign that says "Johnny's Bakery"
  - ryeights 5y ago
    This seems a bit disingenuous. It's an advertising ban, not a ban on any and all forms of signage. In the pictures of Sao Paulo you can clearly see that businesses still have small signs out front, presumably with the name of the business on them.
kube-system 5y ago
We frequently limit property rights and speech when it pollutes, disturbs, or otherwise negatively affects others. Is this a limit on property rights or an expansion of viewshed rights? It all depends on perspective.
taurath 5y ago
Note that there currently exists a line that prevents auditory distractions - the farm on the side of the road can put up signs but they can’t blast music or AM Radio from a loudspeaker. IMO it’s still about as distracting to the senses. I think the real difference is a whole generation who is used to linear TV has convinced themselves they can somehow tune it out. This isn’t true, but they’re much more likely to be against restrictions since it “doesn’t effect them” that much.

duderific 5y ago

If you happen to live in or visit the SF Bay Area, and drive on the 280 freeway between San Jose and San Francisco, you'll notice it feels a bit...odd. That's because billboards are banned along that stretch [1], and all you see is the beautiful green rolling hills. [1] https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-on-280 https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-...

jliptzin 5y ago
It seems strange to me someone would be allowed to put up billboards to begin with along public property. I assume the freeway is public property correct? It should be illegal to begin with without approval from the public.
- burlesona 5y ago
  This may not be obvious, but the public land (Right of Way) for a freeway is very small compared to the visual range of a driver in a car, and the scale of "things you see while driving" is much larger than you would think. (Go stand next to an ordinary residential stop sign and then think about how big and high up it actually is compared to your mental model of it.) I'm not aware of any bill boards that are on public land (though some probably exist). Rather almost all bill boards are built on private land, or atop private buildings, as a revenue generator for the property owner. Anything within 500 feet of the road is viable, or even further away assuming a large sign. So for billboards to be prohibited there has to be land use regulation that says property owners can't build large signs. That is actually less trivial to enforce than you might think, because the line between a straight up advertising billboard and, say, the sign that lets you know there's a McDonald's at the next exit, is a little fuzzy. There's enormous pressure from business owners to permit large "marquee" signs so that drivers can spot their business from far back enough that they can easily get in the right lane, slow down, turn, etc. without missing it.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    There's also enormous pressure from the public to be able to find things, especially in the case of... you know, a McDonalds on the interstate with people driving by who are from the other side of the country. ;) I don't think most people have a problem with honest ads. The issue is the billboards that tell you "There's something amazing ahead!" and you pay $10 to get in and it's a stupid doll. Or the collections of a billion billboards for different things on a single building. Or the TV ads that use every trick in the book to try and manipulate you into buying a crappy product. Sadly businesses seem to be moving more and more towards "just spend all our money on marketing" rather than "just spend all our money on the product". (I'm looking at you, Plex.)

ok_dad 5y ago

Yea, in my home state, all big signs are banned; billboards, store signs, etc. Only a smallish sign is allowed for any given building or whatever. It's really nice.

muzani 5y ago

Those photos remind me of the contrast in software too. Compare today's Lemmings, with any other Lemmings that didn't run on an ad-based business model. Level design is significantly worse to allow it to run as many ads as possible.