Stand at a busy tram stop in Amsterdam and you may no longer see glossy posters advertising chicken nuggets, gleaming SUVs or luxury getaways lining the shelter walls. The Dutch capital has banned outdoor advertising for meat products, fossil fuels, and high-emission travel. It is part of a growing conviction across Europe that advertising should be judged not only by the claims it makes, but by the habits, desires, and behaviours it helps to shape.
The move feels, at first glance, oddly out of character for Amsterdam. This is a place where, famously, few vices are verboten—where prostitution, marijuana, and psychedelic truffles are legal and openly regulated. But its local government argues the policy is about bringing the city’s streetscape in line with its environmental goals: to become carbon-neutral by 2050. It has set a goal for residents to get 60% of their protein from plant-based sources by 2030.
