Zéro Pub vote: Geneva continues to have outdoor advertising
On Sunday, the residents of Geneva voted on a possible ban on advertising posters - and rejected the initiative with a narrow majority.
Advertising billboards will not disappear from the streets of the city of Geneva. The municipal initiative "Genève Zéro pub" was rejected on Sunday with just under 52 percent of the vote. More than five years after its launch, the initiative was submitted to the sovereign of the city of Geneva as part of a referendum against the implementing ordinance in question. 22,401 voters were against the proposal, 20,733 approved it, according to the city. The voter turnout was 34.5 percent.
The ordinance aimed to prohibit the display of advertisements for commercial purposes, while cultural and educational posters were to remain untouched.
Comments from the market
The initiative was supported by the left and by environmental associations as well as by feminists and anti-capitalists. The petition ended up in the Federal Court, which recognized that a municipal ordinance can restrict economic freedom. Opponents, made up of representatives of the right and business, had criticized the bill as restricting freedom of trade and seeking to patronize people. (SDA)
The market has also already expressed its opinion on the results of the vote, Vincent Antonioli, President of the Western Switzerland Regional Commission of KS/CS Kommunikation Schweiz, said: "Today, freedom of information and expression has won. Outdoor advertising is an important means of information for the economy, politics and culture, which we will continue to protect in the future".
