Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) (amusingplanet.com)

Article summary

In 2006, the mayor of São Paulo passed the Clean City Law, which banned all outdoor advertisements, including billboards and signs in front of stores. The law led to the removal of 15,000 billboards and resulted in nearly $8 million in fines. Seven years later, the city remained free of visual clutter, with 70% of residents finding the ban beneficial. The removal of ads exposed previously overlooked architecture, revealing a rich urban beauty that had been hidden.

Main themes

• outdoor advertising ban
• urban aesthetics
• street art and graffiti
• economic impact
• subjective beauty
• self-expression vs vandalism
• city planning and development

What commenters say

• The ban on outdoor advertisements has improved the aesthetic of the city, making it more peaceful and beautiful.
• The removal of ads has not had a significant negative impact on the economy, and has even helped small businesses.
• Some people find the empty billboard frames and remnants of old ads to be unattractive and dilapidated.
• The ban has led to an increase in street art and graffiti, which some people find ugly and others find beautiful.
• The law has changed the way people look at the city, with some people appreciating the lack of visual clutter and others missing the advertisements.
• The distinction between art and ugliness is subjective, and what one person finds beautiful, another person may find ugly.
• The presence of street art and graffiti has become a defining feature of the city, with some people seeing it as a form of self-expression and others as a form of vandalism.