Groningen will ban alcohol advertisements in public spaces

22 November 2023

The municipality of Groningen no longer allows advertising in public spaces for alcohol, gambling, meat and the fossil industry. The ban will apply to billboards owned by the municipality. That's about 800 plates.

Councilor Carine Bloemhoff (Labour) is facing a new tender for the advertising billboards, which consist of so-called interchangeable frames, advertising light poles, sandwich boards and advertising columns. This concerns advertising that is attached to municipal property. The bus shelters are excluded.

With this advertising ban, the municipality is taking the same path as Utrecht and Almere. In these cities alcohol advertising on municipal properties will also be banned and the restrictions will apply when entering into new contracts with advertising providers.

The advertising industry is critical of the new trend. "We say: stay away from local bans. If you want something: make sure you arrange it at a national level and then it is clear exactly which advertisements are involved," says Hannelore Majoor, director of JCDecaux, a major player in the field of outdoor advertising.

The Association of Advertisers (BVA), which represents advertisers such as Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Heineken, also prefers national rules.

Sources: rtvnoord.nl and nos.nl.

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