'Advertising Breaks Your Spirit': The French Cities Trying to Ban Public Adverts | Cities | the Guardian

• “For decades France has had one of the most well-organised anti-advertising movements in the world, ranging from guerrilla protests with spray-cans to high-profile court cases. But now the boom in what is artfully called “digital-out-of-home advertising” – eye-catching video screens dotted across urban areas, from train platforms to shopping centres – has sparked a new spate of French protests, civil disobedience and petitions.” ⤴️
• “the Socialist city hall has sought limits on advertising video screens, meaning no street furniture on pavements carries commercial video ads. But in France those rules don’t cover train stations or public transport, where video advertising is flourishing” ⤴️
• “in France, there is fresh debate on how urban planners and local councils should limit them in the public space for the sake of our overloaded eyes and brains.” ⤴️
• “François Ruffin of the French left party, La France Insoumise, recently tabled a French parliamentary amendment to ban video ads above urinals and toilets. It was dubbed the “Pee in Peace” motion.” ⤴️
• ““This type of screen in the public space would be invasive and intrusive, consume too much energy, distract motorists and get children even more hooked on videos than they are already,” said Jacques Richir, a Socialist deputy mayor. “It would mean advertising messages [infest] the urban landscape, when we want to limit them.”” ⤴️
• “Lyon, France’s third biggest city, also moved this month to fund a new electric bike-scheme itself rather than strike a deal with outdoor advertisers which might have led to introducing video-screen ads in the city.” ⤴️
• “Di Giussepe said adverts destroyed “public space, which is our shared space”.” ⤴️
• “Lille anti-advertising protest collective Les Déboulonneurs. “We’re told children shouldn’t be exposed to screens before age three, but in pushchairs they’re craning their necks at the screens all around them in public.”” ⤴️
• “it was no surprise that ad screens and their mental and environmental impact was the next frontier in what politicians should ban. “Public space is a meeting space so lowering the aggression of advertising is positive for everyone,” he said.” ⤴️
• “The row in French cities is likely to continue. Historically, advertising took off later in France than in the UK and US, with French newspapers in the 1930s calling it a “school of lies”. Today, however, France is home to some of the most influential advertising firms and lobbies in the world.” ⤴️
• ““There was a criticism that advertising was anti-democratic, and a very strong idea in France that public space belongs to everyone, that we pay for it with our taxes, which are relatively high, and that the public space is where we go to demonstrate.”” ⤴️
• ““Digital video screens in public spaces have an effect on our brains, whether we want them to or not, so planners and politicians should answer to that.”” ⤴️