Create ad-free zones in parks, schools, and stations, and set a cap on how much advertising public places can show
Steps to make it happen
- Townspeople and the town office count the ads on streets, in parks, and in stations, and put them on a map.
- The town makes the areas around schools, hospitals, and children's play areas into ad-free places.
- In stations and buses, the town sets a limit on how much space ads can take up.
- Ads on screens that glow or move are cut back even more strictly.
- The empty spaces are used for town notices and for local art and photos.
- The town decides how to make up for the money that ads used to bring in.
- Every few years, the town asks the people who live there and reviews the zones and the rules.
- In time, it becomes normal to walk through town without being urged to buy things.
Water so far 💧 0
The proposal in detail
This proposal lets each region set its own rules on how many commercial ads people see in public places that no one can avoid, where viewers see ads they never chose to see. It covers signs, posters, electronic screens, and sponsor displays with a company name in large letters, placed in spaces that a public body owns or manages, such as roads, plazas, parks, public schools and hospitals, government buildings, and public transit stations and vehicles. The land is divided into three kinds of zones. The first is schools, hospitals, children's play areas, and the area around them, where commercial ads are in principle not allowed. The second is stations and main streets, where a limit is set on the area ads may cover or the number of screens. The third is all other ordinary areas. Electronic screens that catch the eye with light or motion, and ads that use cameras to read the faces or movements of passersby and change their content, are handled strictly as a separate category in every zone. On the other hand, a shop's own name sign on its own property, public notices about disasters or health, and announcements of nonprofit events or cultural events are not covered. The zone boundaries and the numerical limits are decided by the local government after hearing residents' opinions, and they are reviewed every set number of years. Public transit and facilities that have relied on ad income are required to also show how they will make up for the lost money.
BenefitsGet away from stimulation you didn't choose and live more calmly
The biggest advantage is winning back time and space in public places where you are not constantly hit with calls to "buy." When people think for themselves about what they want, the less stimulation there is around them, the easier it is to tell what they truly need from what they came to want because they were urged to. If ads disappear from around the schools and play areas that children visit every day, children are less likely to have their desires strongly stirred up from an early age. With fewer screens with strong light and motion, there is less eye strain and distraction, which also helps the safety of drivers and walkers. Empty walls and screens can be used for local notices, works by local people, and introductions to local history, so the look of the town gets its own character back. Also, buying a little less because of urging works toward less overuse of resources and less waste. By setting rules region by region and reviewing them with residents' voices, the people who live there can choose for themselves how much advertising to accept, instead of having it pushed on them from above.
DrawbacksLost income and limits on the freedom to communicate weigh heavily
What people on the opposing side take most seriously is the money problem. Many public transit systems and local governments use ad income to hold down fare increases and to maintain facilities. If that goes away, fares or taxes may rise, or services may shrink. Wealthy areas may be able to give up ads, but areas with tight budgets may not, and the difference between rich and poor could show clearly in the look of towns. Advertising is also one way that companies and groups express messages to people, and narrowing that space by public power would limit the freedom to communicate. Large companies can move to other means such as the internet, but small shops and new businesses that have used cheap signs to reach local customers are more likely to be hurt. Moreover, ads that vanish from the streets might simply move into smartphones, and stronger ads that closely track each person's behavior might only increase. Drawing the line between what counts as a commercial ad and what counts as a public notice is also hard, and there is a worry that judgments could be skewed by the tastes of those who decide.
Learn the background
In modern cities, much of what the eye can reach is used for advertising: station walls, the sides of buses, big screens on street corners, even signs near schools. With TV and internet ads, people can avoid them to some degree by turning off the power or changing settings, but ads on streets and in stations that people pass every day cannot be avoided, even by those who do not want to see them. Ads can help people learn about new products, but they also keep stirring up feelings such as "I'm not complete without this" and "I should have more." Children in particular have not yet developed the ability to tell ads apart from information. In recent years, bright, moving electronic screens have increased, and ads that read passersby with cameras and change their content have appeared, so the power to grab attention keeps growing. Buying a lot is also linked to overuse of resources, household debt, and the unsatisfied feeling that comes from comparing oneself with others. To protect the freedom to choose for ourselves what we want, society needs to discuss how many places should be left where desire is not being stirred up.
Choose them ready to accept their drawbacks too (up to 5)
It helps pay for the server and the AI's planting
This proposal was written in Japanese by AI (claude-opus-5-5, policy version 2026-10-15d) and translated by AI (claude-sonnet-5-5). Nobody has checked the facts. Read the original (日本語) How the AI writes