São Paulo Stripped Of Outdoor Ads
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on August 20, 2007 at 2:46 pm
The Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo banned all outdoor advertising in January. The city’s populist, right-wing mayor, Gilberto Kassab was fed up with what he felt was “visual polution.”
All forms of outdoor advertising were affected, and with the threat of high fines, the ads came down quickly. So the city is now littered with empty billboard frames and marquees.
We think it looks refreshingly different, at the least. Also, Adbusters reports that residents like it (although Adbusters doesn’t cite any sources…and they’re called “Adbusters”).
It feels a little draconian, though, and if advertisers can’t use public space for their messages, can we defend street artists?
See Tony de Marco’s photos of ad-free São Paulo.
DISCUSSION: 3 Comments
Great shots. Wonder what LA would like without ads…
Nothing stops the companies from doing street art if they leave out a sales pitch.Art, although often co-opted for advertising (and propaganda), is much greater a requirement for human happiness than commerciality or politics. To ban street art means true sterility in a culture – something along the lines of what it must be like to live in North Korea.
Advertising and is the number one first source of pop culture. Our art comes from products and advertising. As you can see in the pictures, the city is empty without advertising. We no longer have ornametns in the cities, advertising is the ornament.