SÃO PAULO: one year without ads. What the city is doing about it?

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the drama | The most emblematic case linked to the Clean City Law created something of a commotion: an immense digital clock perched on top of a building on Avenida Paulista became, over the past 10 months, a symbol of resistance against the most talked about legislation in São Paulo. People passing through the avenue admitted that they would often use the illuminated sign to orientate themselves. Controversy arose because the old sign not only told the time, it also advertised a private bank.

São Paulo City Council anxiously awaited the advert’s removal. “The clock can stay, but the bank will have to remove their brand name”, decreed Renata Monteiro, president of the Commission for Protecting the Urban Landscape, which was set up to give the final word on more complicated processes. And the courts were in favour. Paulistanos, who were afraid of losing the clock for good, were relieved when the bank decided to leave it in its traditional location, despite being forced by the courts to remove any advertising.

The local authorities in São Paulo don’t accept that the law is excessively rigid and say that the city was being swallowed up by a sea of visual images due to the flexible legislation in place until recently. According to the administration, the effort being made to ensure that the Clean City Law has a real impact is necessary to recouperate the city’s historical and architectural patrimony, which
was hidden behind all the billboards.

When the law was passed, the council didn’t know exactly how many irregular adverts were in place all over the city; since September last year, 1,014 posters and signs have been taken down and 200 thousand fines have been handed out, which could raise more than R$40 million in public funds. The advertising agencies will be footing the bill, seeing as they’re the owners of the land where the illegal advertisements were hung.

the leftovers | Marginal Pinheiros,one of the busiest stretches of road in São Paulo, was also covered with some of the hottest billboards in the city. The brands that advertised there have found another way of drawing consumer attention: by advertising on the clocks spread along the street.
An increase in the cost of advertising was also one of the consequences of the Clean City Law. “Companies are facing higher costs because they are having to change the way they communicate”, explains Carolina Conn, design coordinator for B+G Design. The publicity market has had to come up with alternatives to reach customers (such as investing more in indoor advertising, for example), as the new legislation has made mass marketing more difficult and has fragmented the public. Specialists confirm that the new rules are forcing advertising and marketing professionals to become more creative, to innovate and think ahead.

Set up a year ago, the Clean City law may not have tidied up the city completely, but, in the very least, it’s put a little bit of order into the chaos and cut down on the city’s visual pollution. If pollution and excessive advertising are bad for your health, then today the city is a healthier place to live in. JD

SÃO PAULO: one year without ads. What the city is doing about it?

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