Hawaii (among other places) has banned billboards. It is actually quite nice not to have annoying advertisements all over the place. So, it is possible, but it will take a concerted political push.
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.
The state of Hawaii also bans most ads and billboards (they are considered to take away from the natural beauty, which, of course, is a big tourism draw). I find it odd that there is even much debate about it and that most places do not have laws like this:
Come visit Hawaii some time. It's one of 4 states that have banned billboards (Alaska, Maine and Vermont are the others), and it's wonderful. No incessant, demanding, constant bombardment of stupid messages for products you're not interested in. Bear in mind that even if you think you're ignoring them and not seeing them, they're still very likely to be having a subconscious impact on you.
It really says a lot about how we're conditioned that people would even actually miss advertising billboards when they're not there.
Hawaii has a "no billboards" law [0] (as do Maine, Vermont and Alaska). I think this is a cleaner, better statement than "ad-free city," which is obviously far overstating the case and paradoxically doesn't even ban billboards (they're still allowed for non-corporate advertising).
We have a ban on billboards in our town in Indiana of all places, its definitely possible. It is nice as well, I always forget how annoying they are until I travel to other cities.
I live on an implicitly ad free island in the Pacific. You might figure out where but I'm being vague for privacy. In any case, I don't believe there is any law against e.g. billboards here, but there definitely aren't any. I really appreciate it. When I've driven in e.g. California I feel so depressed seeing all the billboards.
Anyone that's ever been fortunate enough to visit Hawaii knows how wonderful a place with such regulations is. Even in areas far less dense than Sao Paolo, I got a sense of relaxation from simply driving on the highway that I don't get (even in lovely rural stretches) when my attention is beggared away 10 times per minute by fast food signs. I doubt that society can yet fully quantify what we are trading away to make a few billboard operators wealthy and satisfying a few advertisers.
Absolutely, frankly. One step at a time, this is a win, and where I live advertising billboards _are_ banned. There's only one in the entire city, and it was grandfathered in.
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.
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