Description
Who: Municipality of Haarlem, the Netherlands
What:
- Motion adopted to talk with advertising agencies about banning climate harming ads (air travel, fossil fuel transport and meat from industrial agriculture)
- After the board announces to execute the motion, the news that Haarlem will ban ads for meat becomes world news
- The ban will be implemented for new contracts. Abri ads will be free from fossil ads from 1st of January, 2025 on.
When: Motion adopted in November 2021, media storm September 2022, implementation 2024
2024: New advertising policy implemented
On 30th of May 2024, the new advertising policy was announced, including a ban on fossil and industrial agriculture product ads. Abri ads will be free from fossil ads from 1st of January, 2025 on. The full changes can be found here (in Dutch).
2022: Media storm
The municipality of Haarlem suddenly became world famous after the city board announced that it would execute the adopted motion to ban fossil ads and ads for meat from industrial agriculture. It is the first city in the world to adopt such a motion. After The Guardian wrote about this first mover, news traveled fast. Haarlem was praised for its bold move while also heated discussions were triggered. While the Daily Show made a funny item about the news, the Dutch association for advertisers (BvA) published an opinion piece (in Dutch) fighting the ban.
The motion was put forward by the Green party (GroenLinks) and supported by the Labour party (PvdA), ChristenUnie, SP and 3 out of 4 Christian-democrats.
2021: Passed motion
Requests the board:
- To enter into discussions with the operator of advertisements in Haarlem bus shelters and public spaces about no longer allowing advertisements for products that contribute contribute excessively to the emission of co2, such as air travel, modes of transport that mainly use fossil fuels and products from the bio-industry.
Read the full motion here (in Dutch).
Conclusion of discussion
The municipality spoke to the three advertising operators of bus shelters and columns and screens in public spaces. The city of Haarlem indicated that when the current contracts expire, advertisements for industrial agriculture products and fossil ads 'will no longer be allowed' in Haarlem. This will be in 2024, 2025 and 2031, respectively. Read the execution letter of the board here (in Dutch).
