Sao Paulo: The City That Said NO to Advertising

I recently watched the film The Greatest Movie Ever Sold starring Morgan Spurlock.  Many of you may recognize him from his film Super Size Me.  Instead of the fast food industry, in this film he takes aim at corporate advertising within motion pictures and television, more commonly known as product placement.  The film is very interesting and informative as it follows Morgan on his journey to find advertisers to star in and pay for the film. It shows in great detail the process that the motion picture industry and advertisers go through to insert their products into movies.   If you haven't already seen the film I strongly recommend that you check it out. 

One aspect of the film that jumped out at me was the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil and how they have recently made the decision to ban all outdoor advertising.  The name of Sao Paulo's law was "Lei Cidade Limpa" or the Clean City Law.  The mayor of Sao Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, explains the law in the film by saying, "The Clean City Law came from a necessity to combat pollution … pollution of    water, sound, air, and the visual. We decided that we should start combating pollution with the most conspicuous sector – visual pollution".  

Here is a link to an article discussing Sao Paulo's Clean City Law in more detail: http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/73/Sao_Paulo_A_City_Without_Ads.html 

 

Sao Paulo after the removal of all outdoor ads

Although I found it very interesting that Sao Paulo made the choice to ban all outdoor ads, what made the biggest impression on me was how much it changed the city and how completely opposite it now is from say Times Square in New York or Piccadilly Circus in London. While watching The Persuaders in class we saw a number of different shots and images depicting the advertising driven Times Square in NYC.  The advertisements in a lot of major U.S. cities have become a part of the culture and we expect to see numerous different ads.  Try and imagine for just one second what Times Square might be like without any outdoor advertising! How would stores draw in customers? Would marketers find another way to bombard us with ads?

Times Square, New York

Piccadilly Circus, London

The Future of Retail

While searching the internet the other day I stumbled upon an article discussing the future of retail.

link to the article-  http://gigaom.com/2012/07/09/is-the-future-of-retail-showrooming/

The article goes into great detail about consumer trends and how brick and mortar retail stores may turn into showrooms in the future where consumers experience and order products rather than purchasing them on the spot.  I am not too sure if I buy into the showroom idea, probably because I am confident that stores will be able to use technology to update the shopping experience ensuring the survival of retail.  I found myself daydreaming of the possibilities of retail in the future.

In the future you may walk into a store and instead of a grabbing a shopping cart you grab an electronic device. You would then “login-to” the store essentially by entering all the necessary contact and payment information. As you walk the store and find items you would like to learn more about you simply just scan a barcode which will then give you all the information necessary regarding the product so you can make an educated purchasing decision. Scanning produce in a grocery store will inform the consumer of where it was grown, when it was harvested even how long a particular piece of produce will last before spoiling. Once you make the decision to purchase an item it will then be entered into your virtual shopping cart. Once you are all finished shopping no need to stop at the checkout, since you already entered your payment information, just return the device at the front of the store and walk to your car where all your items will be waiting for you.  With more and more shopping done online actually going to the store to shop may become a rare occurrence. I can imagine teenage girls in the future discussing each other’s clothes and saying something like, “OMG you actually bought that dress “offline”. I haven’t been “offline” shopping in months!”