Following tobacco and alcohol advertisements, advertisements for meat, airlines and dairy products are increasingly restricted. More and more municipalities are banning such advertising on their bus stops and billboards due to its impact on the climate.
Earlier this month, Utrecht’s city council voted to ban meat ads, after previously banning “fossil ads” that also included ads for gasoline, cars and air travel. The municipality of Bloemendaal announced at the end of October that it would no longer advertise meat, dairy products and products that use fossil fuels as energy sources.
Municipalities such as Zwolle, Haarlem, Amsterdam and the province of North Holland also ban such advertising for climate reasons.
Sign at the door
This is not a complete ban; It is the prohibition of special advertising areas such as bus stops, advertising poles or other billboards. Therefore, a butcher may continue to promote his meat with his own sign on the doorstep, in the window or in the newspaper.
In Utrecht, the Party for the Animals took the initiative. Advertising for fossils and meat can no longer be seen in approximately 850 advertising frames at bus stops and two advertising poles along the highway. “The main reason is that meat production leads to climate change,” says party leader Maarten van Heuven. “Another reason is animal welfare. Because eating less meat is good for animals.”
As in most other municipalities, the ban will only come into force when existing contracts with advertising operators expire. Van Heuven hypothesizes that this will lead to a decrease in meat consumption among Utrecht residents. “If a burger giant advertises a plant-based chicken burger, people will think: I’ll try that. You make it more familiar and normal.
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Jan Willem Bolderdijk, professor of sustainability and marketing at the University of Amsterdam, does not expect an immediate impact. “At the local level, this will not guarantee that residents change their behavior immediately. “More is needed,” says Bolderdijk. “At the same time, if you don’t ban advertising, you’re perpetuating the image that this is normal. “This pushes people to behave differently.”
According to the professor, the impact is mostly indirect. “It encourages social discussion. Last year, Haarlem made global headlines when it became the first city to ban meat advertising: “There’s a grease slick effect,” he says. “More and more municipalities are doing this every day. “So this is indirectly meaningful and ultimately you can impact a lot more people as an individual municipality.”
not so fast
The advertising industry criticizes the new trend. “We say: Stay away from local bans. If you want something: make sure you organize it nationally and that it is clear exactly what it is advertising,” says Hannelore Majoroor, director of JCDecaux, a major player in outdoor advertising. “There are laws and regulations across the country that impose certain conditions on advertising.”
The question, according to Major, is whether this will ultimately happen so quickly because municipalities are unaware of how much money they are losing due to such bans. “Municipalities receive most of their advertising revenue from bus stops. Such measures affect the contracts we have with municipalities. As a result, our sales decrease, which leads to a decrease in the advertising revenues of municipalities.”
Disclaimer
The Advertisers Association (BVA), which represents advertisers such as Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Heineken, also prefers to see national regulations. “Regulating this at the local level creates uncertainty and confusion for consumers and businesses,” says director Henriette van Swinderen.
According to advertisers, this should not be imposed but should come from the industry itself. “For example, we are in talks with the travel and car industries to include warnings against flying too much and to focus on sustainable alternatives rather than maximum consumption. “We need sustainable behavior as the norm.” It is unclear when this will take concrete form. “Even if we realize progress is slow, it will work eventually.”
At the end of October, Minister of Climate and Energy Jetten announced in a letter to parliament that the decision on a possible national ban would be left to the next cabinet. Social scientists who advised Jetten concluded that an advertising ban alone was not enough to stimulate and accelerate sustainable change. According to these scientists, the kind of disclaimer advertisers recommend has no effect, as seen in tobacco ads. Such a warning may even be counterproductive.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
