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Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by kroltan on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @10:33AM (#36587254)
I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into it ("Ponte Hercilio Luz" if you want to search for photos).

For some god forsaken reason, someone got away with building a gigantic - and I mean GIGANTIC - screen billboard right in line of sight of this historic postcard. I don't recall when it was installed, but if you look at any photos of the bridge taken from the south since maybe 2015, it is there.

It is bright, it plays animated ads the entire day, and it is also perfectly aligned with the nearby major road Beira Mar Norte so that people driving south to the bridge see it just off to the side of their view where it won't be covered by transit.

Frankly just due to the animations I'm surprised it is not banned as an epilepsy hazard, but alas, money speaks louder than reason, and one of the most iconic and beloved sights in this city is now tainted with the most vapid disservice to humanity.

Here's a screenshot of Google Street View: https://i.imgur.com/OXeVkuq.jpg (annotated as their camera doesn't pick up on the brightness during the day due to sea haziness)

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by tr4vis on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @10:41AM (#36587365)
I'm from Florianópolis and everyone I know hates that stupid billboard - it goes against the natural vibe of the city.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by whats_a_quasar on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @01:19PM (#36589684)
Not directly related, but it's so cool that three different people from Florianópolis have commented! I don't think I'd ever meet someone from that part of Brazil in my normal life. That's a little bit of internet magic
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by tr4vis on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @03:48PM (#36591721)
I was also taken aback tbh. But it makes sense considering Florianópolis is one of Brazil's major tech hubs.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by kroltan on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @06:56PM (#36593571)
Yep, I always see a couple fellow manézinhos (or at least residents) whenever Florianópolis is mentioned.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by virgulino on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:51PM (#36595342)
Now four.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by sgt on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @06:23AM (#36598315)
How is living in Florianópolis or in southern Brazil? Just out of curiosity. Lifestyle good?
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by tr4vis on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @11:53AM (#36602210)
Living in southern Brazil surpasses the rest of the country in terms of quality of life (especially safety) imo. As for living in Floripa, it's a pretty easy-going lifestyle, being that it's a capital that's also a subtropical island. Nightlife isn't as you'd expect compared to bigger cities, but the many beaches, beautiful landscapes and friendly people you meet here definitely make up for it. Honestly, I wouldn't live anywhere else for the time being.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by virgulino on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @02:30PM (#36604909)
Florianópolis is a peculiar little island. It has gotten much bigger and trendier in this millennium.[1] But it is still the island of witches and other supernatural creatures.[2] As a dinosaur from the 8-bit era, I appreciate and resent both worlds. As a first generation islander (manezinho), I am neither Little-Endian nor Big-Endian . I love it here.

On top of that, we are in the mullet season. [3]

1 - https://youtu.be/fEK53W3Y-vE

2 - https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=florianópolis+frank...

3 - https://youtu.be/9YftNiFyQ9E

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by sgt on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:06PM (#36607119)
Thought you meant mullet as in the hair style. Some kind of bizarre Brazilian version of Movember.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by rbanffy on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @07:34AM (#36598872)
We don't look Brazilian when online ;-)

Now, seriousness, there is no such thing as "looking Brazilian". We come in all sizes and colors.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by rektide on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:01AM (#36587595)
Far less offensive but the DC metro got screen ads & it just so cheapens the experience. Used to be a kind of impressive semi-brutalist feeling, which isn't super fancy or anything. But now just tacky.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by WarOnPrivacy on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:10AM (#36587703)
I used to ride the red line when the Metro first opened and you're right. I miss that patterned concrete atmosphere.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by samstave on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @12:37PM (#36589043)
Im surprised there hasnt been more efforts to hack these things MaxHeadroom style and do subversive propaganda...

I cant wait until someone hacks on of these screens and does deepfakes on them - either some politicians doing crazy things, or celebrities doing crazy things, or more subtle ads that seem real, but are taking the piss.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by artsytrashcan on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @09:33PM (#36594580)
They're slowly ruining the vibe. Several stations raised the intensity of the lighting, painted the cement coffers, changed the warning lights from yellow to red, and some have even replaced the iconic floor tiles. The new trains in general are a travesty, too. The old ones had a warm 70s color scheme, warm lighting, and carpet that absorbed some of the track noise. The new ones are steel on the outside, white and blue on the inside, with cool lighting that clashes with the stations and hard surface floors that don't dampen noise at all (to say nothing of the redesigned seating, made uncomfortable to deal with a non-existent homeless rider situation). Oh, also, the first set of them were duds with major issues.

Walking into Metro stations and onto the trains used to be a calming experience, stepping out of the stress of the city or suburbs into a chill and welcoming atmosphere. Now, I can feel my blood pressure jump.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by leonheld on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:50AM (#36588284)
I live here and oh God I fucking that that billboard so much. It fills me with pure rage.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by fastball on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @09:06PM (#36594432)
You fucking what?
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by kroltan on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @09:28PM (#36594558)
The billboard.

Jokes aside, my guess is the missing word is "hate".

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by leonheld on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:00PM (#36595061)
lol, yes, it was. As I plunged my fingers into the keyboard I was reminded of how much I hate that billboard, so much hate it couldn't even be typed out.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by rbanffy on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @07:36AM (#36598889)
I think only the owners and the advertisers like it. Would a couple high power microwave transmitters pointed at it be able to increase maintenance cost enough for them to give up?
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by m463 on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:37PM (#36606759)
> I think only the owners and the advertisers like it.

Isn't that true of all advertisement? sigh.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by matheusmoreira on Thursday July 06, 2023 @03:54AM (#36612656)
Someone here on HN once floated the idea of someone taking a paintball gun and going to town on these obnoxious billboards. Truly the hero we need right now.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28969142

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by rbanffy on Sunday July 09, 2023 @05:45PM (#36659259)
Extra points if they dress as a bat.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by Bloating on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @12:09PM (#36588553)
The mayor's newphew owns the billboard company
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by samstave on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @12:35PM (#36589013)
HA!

I KNEW IT - when I first read that comment, the only thing I could think of re: "how?" was some political shenanigans.

Philippines is so much like that - for example, the Ayala family... corrupt as sin, but have their fingers in every aspect of philippines business and politics.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by kroltan on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @06:53PM (#36593551)
It is kinda fitting in the sense of all the corruption that made the bridge repairs take longer than I've been alive, now that it's repaired (?) there's that horrendous screen. It's like the rotten cherry pit atop the pile of turd.

But nevertheless, it is a true shame.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by totallywrong on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @12:09PM (#36588555)
I hate those with passion. I was recently in Panama City which is filled with ultra-bright, enormous screens. It made my hotel room fully lit at night! I have no idea how they're legal.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by chaosjevil on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @01:00PM (#36589379)
Your anecdote is contextually irrelevant, given that it's about Desterro and the OP is about São Paulo city.

Unless of course you're a nationalist, pretending that things that apply to one city in Vargas' Reich should be "magically" associated with another city in another region. Are you?

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by dang on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @08:28PM (#36594217)
Please don't take HN threads into flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by chaosjevil on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @10:22PM (#36594857)
Contrariwise to your assumption I was not trying to bring a flamewar up, even if feeling the need to point that out.

With that in mind, your silence towards the potential nationalist for doing something that _also_ goes against the spirit of HN* is rather... curious.

*bringing up what's at the very least off-topic trivia (i.e. noise, or "fluff" as Graham would call it).

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by dang on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @11:23PM (#36595184)
People often feel like the mods are singling them out unfairly, but most often we just didn't see the other side. We can't read everything.

If there's another comment that you feel should have been moderated but wasn't, I'd be happy to take a look, but I'd need a link,.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by chaosjevil on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @01:50AM (#36595990)
I wasn't even aware that you're a mod. Until now.

However, given that hell breaks loose when there are morons on power - and there's nothing that screams "I'm a moron" harder than assumptions (as the one in your comment that I'm replying to), you don't need to worry about what "I'd take HN threads into" further. I'm out.

Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by anigbrowl on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @08:33PM (#36594250)
Y'all need to team up and figure out a way to get rid of the billboard.
Re:Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) by kristofferR on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @09:47AM (#36600426)