Rethinking Outdoor Advertising in Spain
Independent research, regulation and insight into the changing world of outdoor advertising.
Can you run an advertising bike, van or street team here?
We read each council's own ordinances. Click a city for the rules on bikes, vans, parked vehicles, sign-holders, promoters and leaflets, with article numbers and our verdict.
21 places rated, 4 provisional, 5 not yet readable. An initial research sample, not a national survey: how we chose and read them.
Open the city guideSpain regulates the advertiser, not the street.
In the strictest Spanish cities, whether a vehicle may carry an advert depends on who paid for it, not on what the vehicle does. A plumber's van with its own logo is legal. The same van with a paid advert is banned. A council-contracted bus with that advert is legal again. We think public space should be regulated by how it is used.
A better rule for the street, in eleven articles
A model ordinance any Spanish council can adapt. Bikes, vans and people move freely after a simple notice. Parked billboard-vehicles are treated as billboards. Screens, loudspeakers, blocked pavements and litter are restricted. Councils publish what they enforce.
Why Spanish cities restrict mobile advertising
Taste presented as safety, rules copied from motorway law, and councils that sell the space they protect.
Read → ComparisonHow Spain compares
London, Munich, Paris, Geneva and Spain's own permissive towns manage bikes, vans and people without banning them.
Read → RecordWho actually gets fined?
Every verified action against an advertising vehicle we found involved a political message.
Read → Public spaceThe real problems, and the real fixes
Blocked pavements, screens, noise and litter each have a precise answer. None needs a ban.
Read → StandardWhat responsible mobile advertising looks like
Six plain rules we hold operators to, as well as councils.
Read → PressFor journalists
Key findings, quotable lines, charts and how to cite our research.
Read →