Haarlem becomes first city in the world to ban adverts for meat

Haarlem has announced that it will move to ban all public advertisements of meat products in the city, making it the first city in the world to introduce such a rule. 

Municipality of Haarlem to ban meat advertisements from 2024

Earlier this month, the municipality confirmed that, from 2024, no adverts for meat products will be visible in public spaces in the city, affecting advertisements on billboards, advertisement screens, and at bus / tram stops. 

It’s not yet clear how the ban will affect different foods and brands, and whether it will have consequences for organic meat. Some lawyers have already raised concerns about the change, arguing that the ban could be seen as a violation of freedom of expression. 

Dutch cities ban ads for products that harm the climate

It is widely believed that Haarlem is the first city in the world to introduce a law limiting meat adverts, a decision the municipality has attributed to the impact of the production of meat on the climate. 

The ban - which stems from a motion submitted by the GroenLinks party - takes similar rules already in place in Leiden, Amsterdam, and The Hague one step further. These Dutch cities have already banned adverts for air travel, petrol cars and the fossil fuel industry as a result of their negative impact on the environment.