Amsterdam is banning ads for burgers and cars. Here's why

Amsterdam has banned public advertising for both meat and fossil fuel products, becoming the world's first capital city to do so. The ban came into effect on May 1 and includes advertisements for items such as burgers, petrol cars, air travel, and cruises, displayed on billboards, tram shelters, and metro stations.

Ads for beef, chicken, pork and fish are also no longer allowed.

The Netherlands' capital aims for carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 50 per cent reduction in local meat consumption. Politicians argue that cheap meat and fossil-heavy travel are no longer aspirational lifestyle choices.

We take a look.

The rationale behind the ban

According to leaders, the ban is to bring the capital city into line with the local government's own environmental targets.

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Anneke Veenhoff from the GreenLeft Party asserts, "The climate crisis is very urgent. I mean, if you want to be leading in climate policies and you rent out your walls to exactly the opposite, then what are you doing?" as quoted by BBC.

"If you’re trying to get rid of an addiction, it’s not very handy to see it everywhere,” Veenhoff said as she likened high-carbon lifestyles to an addiction, the New York Times (NYT) reported.

Ads for beef, chicken, pork and fish are also no longer allowed. Image courtesy: Pixabay

Anke Bakker, Amsterdam group leader of a Dutch political party focused on animal rights, also echoed the view.

Rejecting the accusation of being a nanny state, Bakker noted that, through this policy, the government is simply trying to send a message to big firms not to tell people what to eat and buy all the time.

According to Bakker, removing those constant visual nudge reduces impulse buying.

"Amsterdam is also pushing its citizens to eat less meat, and has set a goal for residents to get 60 per cent of their protein from plant-based sources by 2030. Because of climate reasons, because of health reasons," Bakker noted, according to the media outlet.

Experts' take 

In the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Samantha Green called the banning "an improvement in health outcomes." Green noted, "It’s very clear that fossil fuels kill people through air pollution and climate change," according to the news outlet.

Adding, "Given the previous success of tobacco advertising bans and the previous success of other advertising bans for health-harming products, it only makes sense that we stop allowing the promotion of this deadly product."

Other researchers are hopeful about the move. Professor Joreintje Mackenbach, an epidemiologist, a medical professional who investigates health patterns within populations, has called the ban "a fantastic natural experiment to see".

"If we see advertisements for fast food everywhere, it normalises the consumption behaviour of fast consumption. So if we take away those types of cues in our public living environments, then that is also going to have an impact on those social norms," Mackenbach said, according to the BBC. 

Is Amsterdam not the first one to ban?

The Netherlands' capital is not the first one to start from scratch.

In 2022, Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands, became the first city in the world to announce a sweeping ban on most meat advertising in public spaces. In 2024, it came into force, along with a prohibition on fossil-fuel adverts.

Amsterdam has banned public advertising for both meat and fossil fuel products, becoming the world's first capital city to do so. Image courtesy: Pixabay

Utrecht and Nijmegen, prominent cities in the Netherlands, have since introduced similar measures, explicitly limiting meat advertising on municipal billboards, in addition to existing bans on adverts for fossil fuels, petrol cars and flying.

Globally, a growing number of cities are adopting or considering restrictions on fossil-fuel advertising, including Edinburgh, Sheffield, Stockholm and Florence. France even has a nationwide ban, according to a BBC report.

In 2024, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments to prohibit advertising by fossil fuel companies, describing them as the “godfathers of climate chaos." He also likened their strategies to those of Big Tobacco.

With inputs from agencies