No more burger ads: These Dutch cities are going vegetarian

Advertisers, beware.

Close your eyes and picture a steaming burger bun, juicy patty, and cheese that melts and bubbles. 🍔

If you live in the Dutch municipalities of Amsterdam, Haarlem, or Zwolle, seeing these images on a billboard could be a thing of the past.

The cities want to ban all meat advertisements on municipality-owned advertising spots, like bus shelters.

Why? Climate change, of course.

But will it work?

While it’s an interesting step by the municipalities, whether it will reduce meat consumption is still unclear.

“You are introducing extra regulations again with this, while we already have a lot of them,” Henriette van Swinderen, Director of the Bond van Adverteerders (Associaton of Advertisers), tells RTL Nieuws.

“We’d rather look at other ways about what we as an industry can do to play a role in behavioural change.”

But for Sjoukje Goldman, a researcher in sustainable marketing at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the intention is different.

“This is a way to convey a message. As a municipality, you make a statement with this.”

Following in footsteps

The municipality of Utrecht already voted to ban meat advertisements earlier this month. Previously, the city also banned fuel, car, and air travel ads.

Meanwhile, Bloemendaal has also decided that the city will no longer show ads for meat, dairy, or products that are sourced from fossil fuels.

What effect do you think banning meat ads could have? Share your opinion in the comments below!

Feature Image:DutchReview
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺https://gallivantations.com
Sam has over six years experience writing about life in the Netherlands and leads the content team at DutchReview. She originally came to the Netherlands to study in 2016 and now holds a BA (Hons.) in Arts, a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and (almost) a Masters in Teaching. She loves to write about settling into life in the Netherlands, her city of Utrecht, learning Dutch, and jobs in the Netherlands — and she still can’t jump on the back of a moving bike (she's learning!).

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