France: Paris poster size reduction could spread across Europe

France: Paris poster size reduction could spread across Europe

The biggest outdoor ad format currently in use, measuring 12m², will be scrapped entirely, with a new maximum surface area of 8m² imposed on advertisers.

Hoardings must be at least 25m apart, increasing to 60m on the périphérique ring road, and no ads are permitted within 50m of a school. 

The big outdoor advertising firms, JC Decaux, Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor, will have to pull down 1,400 over-sized billboards by the end of next year. 

Larger temporary advertisements, up to 16m², would be allowed on the side of buildings being renovated, provided the advertiser also pays for an artist to decorate the rest of the scaffold. Mairie de Paris official Danièle Pourtaud told Le Figaro: "This ruling is not anti-advertising, but responds to people's wishes that advertising should be less intrusive." 

Research firm Cheuvreux analyst Richard Houbron is quoted saying that the decision in Paris could "motivate other cities across France to follow suit," and possibly other European capitals to review their openness to what is described by opponents as visual pollution. 

In countries such as Germany and Nordic countries where the green political power is particularly strong, "we see risk of contagion over time," he said.