It's worth noting that even in the US, billboards are not universal, but a conscious choice of local voters. Four US states prohibit them: Vermont, Maine, Hawaii, and Alaska. It's possibly interesting that all of these states also have excellent reputations for scenic beauty.
Here's a Vermont Public Radio story from 2008 about how they were banned in 1968: https://vprarchive.vpr.net/vpr-news/billboard-ban-turns-40/. Interestingly, it was mostly a Republican party initiative, although it eventually gained enough bipartisan support to pass.
Hawaii has a similar ban in place too. It's so nice not being bombarded by billboards in your day-to-day life. Definitely one of the things I've missed since moving from there.
Billboards are illegal in four states: Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont. I would love to form a SuperPAC to work on outlawing them in the other 46 states.
Some states (Maine, Vermont come to mind off the bat) have banned billboards. I don't think anyone is talking about a sign hanging outside of a shop - pretty sure people are mostly referring to digital advertisements.
If you don't have a preference between seeing Vermont's beautiful hilly forests, and seeing the same forests with a tacky billboard drawing your gaze, I don't really know what to tell you other than that most people feel differently. It is ultimately an aesthetic judgment and everyone can have their own taste.
We live in a democracy and it's up to a majority to decide what to do with the public commons. It is telling, to me, that no state that has banned billboards (Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine) has any serious political movement from any part of the spectrum to reverse the bans.
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