English Audio Request

Key Biscayne is an island town which is located just across a bridge from the city centre of Miami. There are no advertisements there so the beauty of each bird and flower stands out well/clearly.

The negative effects of advertising are not only visual pollution. We see so many advertisements everyday that we learn to ignore and discount them without knowing it.

Legally, the right to place an advertisement in a town is defended as ‘freedom of speech and expression’. In fact, the restriction on advertising in Key Biscayne is unconstitutional. However, the rich and influential residents who support the right in theory think the law doesn't apply to them. These residents administer the affairs of the town by using their own money, even though they are not professional politicians.

Powerful people know from experience that there's no ‘natural trend’ in this world and they can create the trend themselves. That's the difference between those in power and the general public.

Usually, constitutions don't agree with reality. For example, Japan has its pacifist constitution, but their military strength is still very strong. Japanese people should stop paying too much attention to words and symbols that have nothing to do with reality.

A series of long-term studies demonstrated that materialism: obsession with material things, money and appearance was closely related to unhappiness, mental disease and phychosomatic disorders regardless of age, income and nationality. People with those priorities tend to feel relatively unsatisfied with their lives.

While powerful people arouse materialism through advertising, they fight to protect their own living environments, going against the ‘natural trend’. That means they fight to prohibit putting up signs where naturally one would expect lots of signs. Furthermore, they don't want their children to get into the bad habits of not paying attention and adopting the cynical attitudes that are common for people surrounded by advertisements.