Dutch capital city Amsterdam has set a new gold standard by banning polluting advertising by local law. Ads for everything from fossil fuels to flights to petrol and diesel vehicles, gas heating contracts, and even meat products can, from May 1st, no longer be displayed in public spaces or on the city’s public transport network.
Last year, fellow Dutch cities The Hague, Delft, Nijmegen and Utrecht banned fossil fuel adverts via local ordinance, a kind of local law. By following suit, Amsterdam becomes the first global capital city to take this action.
Here in the UK, Edinburgh and Sheffield have gone furthest to restrict fossil fuel advertising, with other councils including Cambridgeshire, Coventry and Medway having agreed some restrictions. However, all of these are council policies; under Amsterdam’s ban (and that of other Dutch cities) restrictions are written into local law, meaning that violations can be punished by a fine to the advertiser.
Notably, the ban contrasts with UK examples in that it covers private ad spaces, not just those owned by the council. Conversely, the ban covers product advertising – i.e. ads for specific products – but brand advertising will still be permitted. This is similar to the UK’s new restrictions on junk food advertising (more on this below).
The road was not easy. Even up to the final vote, outdoor media company JCDecaux, who control much of the advertising space in Amsterdam, was warning city councillors of “far-reaching financial and legal consequences” of the proposed ban. It’s a line we’ve heard before. The outdoor media industry’s response to Transport for London’s 2019 junk food ad ban painted an apocalyptic picture of collapsing revenue. In the event, TfL actually saw an increase in ad revenue in subsequent years.
Interestingly, over 100 ad industry insiders backed the ban, signing a letter addressed to the council showing their support. This isn’t the only sign of dissent in ad land (see below for more).
Already the ban is having a ripple effect. One investor advice website reports: “the move could shift ad budgets, change creative strategy, and pressure margins if copycat rules spread…the signal is clear: policy risk is rising for out-of-home advertising.”
Whether more UK councils will take inspiration from Amsterdam remains to be seen; pressure continues to build on TfL, the UK’s largest outdoor advertising estate, to ban fossil fuel ads.
We’re forever grateful to Dutch campaigners Reclame Fossielvrij for supporting Amsterdam and other Dutch cities to ban polluting ads.
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