Haarlem could ban meat advertisements in world’s first
Haarlem plans to ban the advertisement of meat products on its streets, GroenLinks city councilor Ziggy Klazes confirmed to RTL Nieuws after reports in Trouw. As far as is known, Haarlem is the first municipality in the world to take this step.
“Producing non-organic meat is very harmful to the climate,” Klazes said. “We take this very seriously.” According to him, governments can’t keep telling people that we’re facing a climate crisis and, in the same breath, encourage them to buy products that add to the problem.
“We want to do what is in our power locally and do not want to tempt people to make choices that are bad for the environment,” said the GroenLinks councilor. “We believe that a kilo of pork for a few euros is really no longer acceptable at this time. It is too heavy a burden on the environment.”
The Haarlem city council approved the ban last week. Due to advertising contracts that are still running, the ban's effects will only be visible on Haarlem’s streets from 2024. From then, there will be no products featuring meat on the city’s bus shelters and screens in public spaces.
Cities like Amsterdam, The Hague, and Leiden have already banned “fossil advertisements” of products and services that heavily contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, like air travel and petrol- or diesel-powered cars. Still, they stopped short of banning ads for meat.
