Sao Paulo Thrives Without Billboards

Who could ever have thought that Big Billboard's hysterical claims that Sao Paulo's decision to remove thousands of billboards in 2007 would bring massive unemployment and economic devastation to South America's largest city were laughable?

In fact, using the billboard industry's argument that the ban would result in measurable economic impacts, the move reduced the unemployment rate almost two full percentage points. Perhaps the industry wants to now argue that the way to avoid a global recession is to ban billboards?

Of course, it would be wrong to place Sao Paulo's good economic health on the billboard ban, but placing strict limits on visual pollution does improve quality of life. It is no wonder then that the ban is extremely popular with its citizens and that Buenos Aires and other cities across the globe are seeking to follow Sao Paulo's lead.