Canberra, Australia has a ban on billboards, with the exception of the airport.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/curious-canberra/2017-0...

That link is awesome and could be its own HN submission altogether

Submit it. I wholeheartedly agree!

It looks almost like a bunch of trash was cleaned up off the streets.

Advertising just works. Don't doubt it on consumers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Inoculate yourself and others from the effects of advertising by saying something negative about the brand whenever you see the ad.

Ex. I saw a Mazda ad. "Mazdas are the perfect car for when you want to look like a complete idiot while burning to death in your poorly manufactured deathtrap."

Or live in a country where you don't speak the language well.

On a side note whenever I am in an airport in the states its amazing how much NLP (neuro linguistic programming) you guys are bombarded by.

Could you use a concrete example? US airports are creepy as hell, especially places like Atlanta that have constant CNN blaring like the telescreen in 1984, and of course there is much disgusting advertising, but I never noticed any overt "NLP."

Shit loads of advertising and "serving those who serve you" - referring to mil arty veterans in one airport. But i guess that's the point in NLP, you arebn't supposed to notice it. It was only after reading some books on it that I noticed it as often.

Thanks, I suppose now that you mention it that is a bit creepy and Orwellian. Generally speaking, American airports are the most totalitarian and creepy and uncomfortable in the world. The telescreen blaring, the insane security line, the ads ... stuff like the insane murals in the Denver airport -I'll add that to my list of bloody awful things American flyers put up with.

I find I do this automatically now. Whenever I see an ad the only thing I remember is not to buy whatever they are selling. For shows, I won't watch them. I even cancelled Netflix over their automatic trailers playing. Hulu is next with their unskippable commercials even on the 'ad free' plan

Off topic: >. I even cancelled Netflix over their automatic trailers playing.

But what shows do you enjoy on Netflix if you still cling to them (bad experience)?

Does anyone doubt it?

Seems odd to also remove what appear to be signs for retail businesses on the walls of the business itself, but maybe I’m interpreting the before and after images incorrectly.

Those are allowed but have limited dimensions, doesn't matter the size of your storefront you can only have a logo of a certain size, lots of loopholes like the McDonald's M or putting huge logos inside a glass wall but in general it is followed.

I think those were regulated to be smaller? You can see a "SUPER OASIS" (?) sign shrunk from door-size to half-a-window size :)

These photos are unreal, thanks for sharing.

The article has a line about how local art got a boost. Did many artists never get a chance just because our collective minds were preoccupied with product advertising? Is the presence of advertising an important distinguishing factor when we compare the current age to the Renaissance period?

Beat me to it.

Just a thing - São Paulo was the city without ads. Now, state owned boards abound in the city. But it's still much better than any other city I've ever seen in the world.

Imagine what Tokyo would look like if they instituted this law. In some ways, it would cease to be Tokyo and become an “Edo”

nice, but it would be better to remove the poles too