The death of the billboard: Amsterdam’s ad crackdown is part of a much bigger European shift

As cities across Europe take a closer look at the influence advertising has on consumer behavior, brands are having to rethink how they connect with audiences.

Stand at a busy tram stop in Amsterdam and you may no longer see glossy posters advertising chicken nuggets, gleaming SUVs or luxury getaways lining the shelter walls. The Dutch capital has banned outdoor advertising for meat products, fossil fuels, and high-emission travel. It is part of a growing conviction across Europe that advertising should be judged not only by the claims it makes, but by the habits, desires, and behaviours it helps to shape. 

The move feels, at first glance, oddly out of character for Amsterdam. This is a place where, famously, few vices are verboten—where prostitution, marijuana, and psychedelic truffles are legal and openly regulated. But its local government argues the policy is about bringing the city’s streetscape in line with its environmental goals: to become carbon-neutral by 2050. It has set a goal for residents to get 60% of their protein from plant-based sources by 2030.  

The ad ban is an interesting, if not somewhat contradictory, step for one of the continent’s most commercially connected cities. Every few minutes, another aircraft descends over Amsterdam’s tidy rows of canal houses before landing at Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs—handling roughly 70 million passengers annually. It is a constant reminder that the very industries the city seeks to push out of its advertising spaces—tourism, aviation, and commerce—remain central to its economy and daily life.  

Critics argue that the ban is too binary, and companies investing in renewable energy, cleaner technologies, and sustainable innovation should still be able to communicate those efforts to consumers. But its immediate economic impact will be miniscule. Fossil fuel companies remain among the top-ranking companies in the Fortune 500 Europe list. So in practical terms, removing advertisements from tram shelters and billboards is unlikely, on its own, to significantly dent corporate revenues—no more than it will alter the fate of the places climate change affects the most.  

City officials themselves said meat advertising made up only a tiny fraction of Amsterdam’s outdoor advertising market, accounting for an estimated 0.1% of ad spending, compared with around 4% linked to fossil-fuel-related industries.   

Others may also scoff that, in an age when people spend far more time scrolling on their phones than looking at roadside billboards, the policy is unlikely to have much meaningful impact.  

But that’s not the point. Conversations with marketing leaders across Europe about Amsterdam’s crackdown suggest this is only the beginning of a far more interventionist era for advertising regulation. 

The death of the billboard  

“Amsterdam is ahead of Europe, but it’s part of a much bigger shift,” says Oatly’s executive creative director, Martin Ringqvist. “Across the continent, cities are starting to question whether public spaces should promote the very behaviors they’re trying to reduce.”  

“In many ways, high-carbon advertising is heading toward the same cultural territory tobacco advertising entered years ago, asking the question: if a city is trying to reduce something should it really be promoting it in public space?” 

Amsterdam is not an isolated case. Over 50 cities, mostly European, have already introduced restrictions on fossil fuel advertising or are actively considering similar measures. France became the first European country to ban fossil fuel advertising in 2022. That same year, Haarlem prohibited meat advertising and, in 2024, The Hague banned ads for high-carbon products and services. This effectively gave municipalities across Europe a green light to pursue similar legislation without immediate fear of reversal.  

Stockholm is expected to introduce comparable restrictions later this year.  

Momentum is also building in the U.K. Edinburgh and Sheffield have introduced bans on high-carbon advertising across council-owned spaces, while the issue has already reached Westminster, where lawmakers have debated whether the U.K. should consider nationwide restrictions on fossil fuel advertising. 

“Regulators are no longer just asking whether advertising is misleading,” says Becky Owen, CMO of global social agency Billion Dollar Boy. “They’re asking what role an industry plays in wider societal harm. That’s a fundamentally different lens—and it’s reshaping the future of advertising.”  

There are signs the push to regulate advertising may not stop with fossil fuels or meat. In Berlin, a growing grassroots movement is campaigning for the gradual removal of advertising from public spaces altogether. 

How brands are adapting 

“The smartest brands will stop seeing regulation as something restrictive and start seeing it as a creative opportunity,” says Ringqvist. “Consumers are tired of being lectured, and regulators are tired of vague promises. The brands that will win are the ones that make better choices feel natural, enjoyable, and part of everyday life.” 

What makes Amsterdam different, he argues, is that the shift feels native to the city itself. “It doesn’t feel imposed; it feels like Amsterdam doubling down on its own identity.”  

That philosophy is what inspired Oatly’s “Bike-Thru” campaign, which reimagined the drive-thru concept for a city built around bicycles rather than cars. “Instead of asking consumers to radically change their habits, the campaign adapted itself to behavior already embedded in local culture. That’s the future of sustainability marketing,” Ringqvist says. “Less guilt, less preaching, more ideas that slot naturally into everyday life.” 

For Owen, the greater threat to brands in an increasingly regulated landscape is the collapse of consumer trust. The biggest risk in modern advertising isn’t regulation, but losing credibility, she says. Like Ringqvist, she argues“the brands that will thrive in a more regulated environment are the ones that treat regulation as a creative opportunity rather than a creative restriction. When regulation is done well, it often pushes the industry into more interesting territory.” 

She recalls a recent Nordic campaign where a client was prohibited from launching a beauty filter due to strict regional rules around appearance-distorting technology. Instead, the agency pivoted to an immersive augmented reality experience. “We ended up creating something far more engaging and culturally resonant,” she says. 

“Brands are moving away from straightforward product-led advertising and leaning into lifestyle storytelling and distinctive brand codes instead,” Owen continues. “Once product-centric advertising becomes harder, companies are forced to focus on what actually builds long-term brand value: storytelling, culture, emotional connection, and identity.” 

The future of advertising regulation 

According to Ringqvist, three areas now appear most vulnerable to tighter regulation in Europe: high-carbon industries, greenwashing, and hyper-targeted digital advertising. 

“Europe is moving toward a world where brands won’t just be judged on what they sell, but on what behaviors they normalize. At the same time, vague sustainability language is becoming a huge risk. You can’t just say ’eco-friendly’ anymore and hope nobody asks questions.” 

That shift is reflected in the EU’s Greenwashing Directive, which takes effect later this year and introduces far stricter standards for environmental marketing claims. For many businesses, the new rules will bring much-needed clarity after years of uncertainty around what constitutes acceptable sustainability messaging. 

Yet Ringqvist argues that stronger regulation does not have to come at the expense of effective advertising. “The upside is that real action matters. And so does creativity,” he says. “As targeting becomes more restricted and consumers grow more skeptical, brands will need ideas people genuinely want to engage with in the real world.” 

Other sectors are also facing increased scrutiny. HFSS (high fat, salt and sugar) food and drink advertising is already subject to tighter restrictions in the U.K., while alcohol and gambling face growing regulatory pressure across Europe. “If a category is perceived to create societal harm, regulation is likely to intensify,” says Owen. “That puts sectors such as gambling, ultra-processed food, alcohol, and fast fashion under increasing pressure.” 

For decades, European policymakers largely viewed advertising as a commercial activity requiring intervention only when claims were misleading or offensive. That perspective is changing, and governments are increasingly treating advertising as a powerful social force capable of influencing consumer behavior, public health, and even climate outcomes. 

Amsterdam’s tram shelters may seem like an unlikely battleground in the future of advertising, but it offers an early glimpse at what the next era may look like.  

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com