No More Fast Food, Fossil Fuel Ads Allowed in Haarlem, Netherlands

Ads for fossil fuel, fast food, and other "bad" meat were banned in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Officials in the city have approved a measure to prohibit advertisements for intensively farmed meat from appearing on shelters, buses, and screens in public places, in a first-ever effort to reduce the promotion of goods considered to be major contributors to the climate crisis. The prohibition on meat is in addition to the prohibitions on vacation flights, fossil fuels, as well as fossil fuel-powered vehicles that are already in effect in Amsterdam and The Hague.

Ziggy Klazes, councilor for the GroenLinks (Green-Left) party, said that it will be the first city in the Netherlands-and, Europe and indeed the world-to ban "bad" meat ads in public places. Klazes drafted the motion.

Klazes added that, according to her, the prohibition on commercials for inexpensive meat from industrial farming would also apply to all commercials for fast food restaurants. If people wish to keep eating meat, they could, according to Klazes, who claims that they are not trying to interfere with what people bake and roast in their kitchens. Informing people about the climate crisis and urging them to purchase products that contribute to the problem are ineffective at the same time.

Meat the Problem

According to Wageningen University & Research, each Dutch person consumes 167 pounds of meat annually. US citizens consume more than 224 pounds per person. Over half (57%) of the planet-heating gases produced by raising and feeding cows, goats, pigs, and other animals for food come from the global food production sector.

The problem for the Netherlands extends beyond merely considering promotional ties to meat. The Dutch are the biggest exporters of meat in Europe, earning the nickname "the country that feeds the world." Furthermore, with over 100 million pigs, cattle, and chickens, they have the highest density of livestock in the world. The result of having so many animals in an area barely bigger than the state of Maryland is some extremely serious manure problems. The Dutch government announced a $24.6 billion, 13-year plan in 2021 to gradually reduce livestock and reduce pollutant emissions by half nationwide by 2030.

MP Tjeerd de Groot said in a statement that the message at this point is that this must be fixed immediately. The low-cost framework of food production needs to be abandoned. Both the environment and the farmers' business models are being harmed by this industry. It's time to restore nature, the climate, and the air, which may mean that intensive farming won't be possible in some regions.

While some farmers are aware that a change toward sustainability is required, others have resisted. Dutch farmers lit fires on the sides of roads and dumped waste and manure on highways earlier this summer as a form of protest against the livestock reduction plan.

Not Now But Soon...

The actual implementation date of Haarlem's advertising ban is 2024 due to ongoing contractual obligations with advertisers. There may also be a legal barrier to implementing a ban on something that might be seen as an assault on the right to free speech.

Klazes said that ads for a company may not be allowed to be banned, but banning ads for a category of goods that may be detrimental to the public's health is justifiable. Consider advertisements for cigarettes.

Although it is still unclear if the climate crisis falls under the purview of public health, Klazes views the ban as a chance to serve as an example for other Dutch cities.

She added that many think the choice is patronizing and outrageous, but there are just as many who believe it is appropriate. It is a signal, and it would be wonderful if it were to gain national attention, Treehugger reports.