Thursday, August 29, 2013

A World without Outdoor Advertising


A scene from a popular movie recently prompted me to write a post about the use of outdoor advertising - especially on building exteriors. That particular movie scene featured Shanghai, a city that seems to fully embrace outdoor advertising. Since that post, another scene from another film has opened my eyes to the fact that some cities are taking back their skylines and landscapes from marketers.

The goal of Morgan Spurlock's Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is to get his audience to realize the impact advertising by brands has on many areas of life. I won't give a full review of this highly-entertaining film. However, the brief segment in the film that highlights Sao Paulo's effort to remove all outdoor advertising from within the city is worth noting.

In 2006, a ban was placed on all outdoor advertising in Sao Paulo, which is the fourth largest city in the world. In The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Spurlock speaks with business owners there to determine how the lack of this advertising has changed their marketing plans. While I cannot find that segment of the film on YouTube, I did find the following clip that is equally helpful in learning more about the ban.


So we've discussed the blatant use and total prevention of outdoor advertising. I have a hunch as to which version marketers prefer but it would seem eerie to live in a world without outdoor advertisements. What do you think?

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