In late February, the Party for the Animals, supported by Volt, GroenLinks, and the PvdA, submitted an initiative proposal to allow only ‘fossil-free advertising’ in public spaces. In a letter to the college, the city council says that it did not think the proposal was a good idea.
In the initiative proposal, the PvdD wrote that a ban on fossil advertising is not a problem for advertisers. “After all, they know that regulations can change”. The board finds the group’s position too short-sighted. The regulations the group refers to apply to national, not municipal regulations.
According to the college, the fact that this position does not correspond to legal advice received by the municipality of The Hague says little. “Operators’ legal advisers will come up with an opposite story,” it said.
In addition, the proposal to ban fossil advertising is potentially problematic, partly because of the broad definition of the term. It is therefore not clear which products and services may or may not be advertised. Moreover, the Eindhoven municipality itself does not have the capacity for any process. The municipality needs to calculate the impact of fossil advertising on its income. Advertising revenue now flows through to city marketer Eindhoven365.
Nationwide ban
According to the college, a nationwide ban on such advertisements would be much more effective. Also, no other municipalities have yet taken this step. The municipality of Zwolle is working out a ban on fossil advertising, but whether this will lead to a legal battle and associated (high) damage claims is not clear.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta
