Amsterdam has prohibited outdoor advertising for meat products, fossil fuels, and high-emission travel. This action aligns with the city's goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The city has also set a target for residents to obtain 60% of their protein from plant-based foods by 2030. According to city officials, fossil-fuel-related industries account for an estimated 4% of Amsterdam's outdoor advertising spending, while meat advertising accounts for an estimated 0.1%.
Martin Ringqvist, executive creative director at Oatly, said: "Amsterdam is ahead of Europe, but it is part of a much bigger shift. Across the continent, cities are starting to question whether public spaces should promote the very behaviors they are 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?"
More than 50 cities have implemented or are considering restrictions on fossil fuel advertising. France enacted a ban on fossil fuel advertising in 2022. Haarlem prohibited meat advertising in 2022, and The Hague banned advertising for high-carbon products and services in 2024. Stockholm is expected to implement advertising restrictions in 2026. Edinburgh and Sheffield have banned high-carbon advertising in council-owned spaces. Lawmakers in the U.K. have debated nationwide restrictions on fossil fuel advertising.
Becky Owen, CMO at Billion Dollar Boy, said: "Regulators are no longer just asking whether advertising is misleading. They are asking what role an industry plays in wider societal harm. That is a fundamentally different lens that is reshaping the future of advertising." Ringqvist added: "The smartest brands will stop seeing regulation as something restrictive and start seeing it as a creative opportunity."
Oatly launched a bicycle-themed advertising campaign in Amsterdam. Ringqvist said: "Instead of asking consumers to radically change their habits, the campaign adapted itself to behavior already embedded in local culture." Owen said: "Brands are moving away from straightforward product-led advertising and leaning into lifestyle storytelling and distinctive brand codes instead."