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news
Paris - Bike and Eiffel Tower (copyright Simon MacMichael)Va Va Vélo! Car adverts in France will have to promote cycling and walking under new law
“Va Va Vélo!” as former Arsenal and France star striker Thierry Henry may have to say in any future adverts for Renault – from 1 March, car adverts in France will be required to promote cycling and walking and other sustainable forms of travel.
Under the new government regulations aimed at reducing pollution, including vehicle emissions, people will also be encouraged to car-share or to take public transport.
The new rules were signed into law by a decree of the Ministry for Ecological Transition on Wednesday 29 December, reports ladepeche.fr.
They will apply to advertising across all major media – print, TV, radio, billboards and online – with ads carrying one of three messages.
Those are “For short journeys, prioritise walking or cycling,” “Think about car-sharing” and “On a daily basis, take public transport.”
The messages are similar to those already found in advertising for some foods and drinks, such as “Avoid eating too much fat, sugar or salt.”
The adverts are aimed at encouraging consumers to pollute less by leaving their car at home and travelling by greener options, particularly for everyday journeys, with France’s transport sector accounting for 31 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in France, half of that from private cars.
Besides the three slogans mentioned above, car manufacturers will also have to add a hashtag #SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer – roughly, #GetAroundPollutingLess – to all publicity.
In the event of a breach, the advertiser will first be put on notice, then subject to a fine of €50,000 for each transmission.
President Macron’s government also plans to ban all adverts for the most polluting cars – those emitting more than 123 grams of C02 per kilometre – by 2028.
Other environmentally friendly initiatives being taken to try and reduce waste and greenhouse gases include plastic packaging around most fruit and vegetables being banned from tomorrow – instead they will have to be sold in sustainable packaging such as cardboard.
Fast food outlets will not be allowed to provide plastic toys to children under offers such as McDonald’s Happy Meals under the new measures, and magazines and newspapers will no longer be permitted to be wrapped in plastic when posted to consumers.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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39 comments
There's also a francophone - I think Belgian - campaign to ban advertising for SUVs. Good luck to them!
Wasn't it in France that was an ad was banned for showing the comparitive advantages of riding bikes?
That was a VanMoof ad for e-bikes: https://road.cc/content/news/e-bike-ad-banned-creating-climate-anxiety-275027
haha, good spot! I wonder whether this is two different branches of government not reading from the same page?
Reminds me of smoking, the mandatory images of black lungs and phrases like "smoking kills" on fag packets have next to no effect on smokers. What has really reduced smoking are the bans in most public places and venues.
It's the same for cars, those slogans will achieve nothing, only outright bans, greatly reduced parking spaces and generally handing over of traffic space to active travel will achieve anything meaningful. But that needs courage... among other things in facing your car industry and their endless blackmailing over jobs.
It's not so much the people already smoking they're aimed at. When I started smoking in my early teens I bought JPS solely on the basis that I was a Lotus fan in F1. Mates smoked Marlboros and supported McLaren or Ferrari.
I gave up shortly before I went to college because I realised the damage it was doing. For a while I smoked the occasional cigar or pipe but I have to say that the ads put me off the aesthetic aspects of those pasttimes. Having a lovely wooden cigar box, or an elegantly designed tube for a single, plastered with gory details of smoking diseases does discourage me.
We could have an image of a road fatality attached to the steering wheels of new cars...Just like how we show the negative effects of smoking on cigarette packets.
Soon to be followed by the UK in 2051; maybe.
The UK is going back to pounds and ounces. That's where the UK is at.
Yeah but things were better in the olden days. People looked out for each other, and you could leave your front door unlocked. That metric stuff's got a lot to answer for.
Apparently, according to Boris the Liar, one of those massive Brexit wins is getting the crown back on beer glasses instead of the hideous EU mark. This will make so much difference to so many people.
Well I for one am going to start drinking again to ensure I gain the full benefit. Wouldn't want to miss out...
No shortage of Liars in Marketing functions in all forms of road transport, so not surprising that 100 years of motor vehicle marketing has wholly distorted public attitudes and 'knowledge', despite the evidence to the contrary...
Nope. Science and Engineering are in the SI set of coherent and complete units. That's never been a political matter, and never will be. Sovereignty and so Currency is political so a different matter. Technology has made much of currency of little importance, rather cash is dead, wireless payment is COVID safe. Events..
Back before even my day (just!) the UK used Imperial units for scientific & engineering calculations. E.g. All hail the mighty slug.
Luckily for me we'd gone to SI units before I had to worry about such things, but my maths teachers (including one who was a former aerodynamicist) had certainly used them in anger!
My dad served his time as a draughtsman (designing heavy ships at Ritchie's in Hartlepool) in the 50s, and was a staunch imperialist (measurements wise - he was something of a socialist-ish politics wise).
Inevitably I also became used to using Imperial, for carpentry/DIY at least. Although SI is much more appropriate for science/engineering etc, anything that you are making by hand and eye is tons easier in inches, halves, quarters etc.
Agreed; six feet is so much more natural than 1.84 m!
Precisely my point. 🤣
Doesn't look more natural to me! Oh, hang on, that's eight feet.
<rant mode=on> I detest Imperial measurements as they're not even consistent: A pint in the British Imperial System is 568.261 milliliters (or 20 fluid ounces), while a U.S. pint is just 473.176 ml (or 16 fluid ounces).
Even worse is when recipes use "cups" as a measurement - what cup? Why are dry ingredients being measured by volume (which changes) rather than weight? </rant>
That's easy - when the wagons rolled out to the west and people did not have the space for possessions, it was easy to use a cup as a measure and develop recipes around that.
I'd say the inconsistencies are more seen in the sub units where we have 8, 12, 14, 20 and 40.
There's nothing natural about 6 feet, it is just more familiar to some folk. After all, the mile was redefined in 1593.
The move towards uk metrication was started in 1862 by a commons select committee, so it's not that new !
Which mile do you mean? The US survey mile (due to be phased out in 2022), the Chinese mile, the Italian mile, the Roman mile, the nautical mile, the old Elizabethan-era English mile or the international mile?
The use of a cup as a measure wouldn't be so bad if at least the measurements are kept consistent so that the proportions of ingredients stay the same, but recipes will use a combination of ounces, fluid ounces, cups and teaspoons/tablespoons so they could at least state what cup size they are using.
Personally, I just steer clear of any recipe that requires me to measure ingredients using a bra.
Just found out that I've completely misunderstood how to cook Bacalhau à Brás
Can't blame the honest British pint for the actions of the Americans.
Besides, we'll be able to dictate that kind of thing to the yanks when they're begging us for a trade deal...
As long as we don't end up buying U.S. beer. (Also, whilst on a new year rant, when did the U.S. take ownership of "Americans" when it also applies to Canadians, Mexicans and likely all of south-America?)
Since Team America (fuck, yeah)
I watched "Don't Look Up" last night - another comedy that highlights the absurdity of U.S. politics.
It's on my list but only hesitantly. These things tend to make me upset rather than make me laugh these days.
I was surprised by just how many stars were in it. The ending is poignant, but there is a cathartic end-of-credits scene.
Even Neil DeGrasse Tyson said it was more of a documentary (of his experiences as a scientist in 2021, anyway) than fiction. If you don't laugh, you'll weep, right?
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