[Hermel]

Still banned in Germany: ads for lawyers, ads for doctors, ads for cigarettes, ads for gambling, and ads for drugs that need a prescription.

When traveling to the US, it always strikes me how different public ads are. The US has more public ads and also much more aggressive ads. An ad for an injury lawyer would be unthinkable in Europa.

[amai]

In Denmark political ads are banned on TV. That reduces the amount of money necessary for campaigns before an election quite a lot:

https://www.oscepa.org/en/news-a-media/op-eds/the-danish-way...

https://slks.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/dokumenter/medier/rekl...

[meibo]

In Germany, political TV ads are technically banned, but every party in the running gets allocated a slot after the evening news on the main public channel. This can be pretty funny, as sometimes, even very "amateurish" spots by very small parties end up on national TV.

[felixg3]

never forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ-69p7A-r0

[potamic]

In the age of social media, how do you regulate how much they spend on social media advertising?

[ThePhysicist]

It's not true that doctors can't advertise, there are just restrictions of the type of advertisement they can do. There are e.g. many online portals that list doctors with their specific services and contain appraisals by customers. It would just not be allowed for the doctor to do such kind of appraisals ("I'm the greatest dentist in Berlin") by themselves.

In any case it's hardly an issue for them as most doctors are fully booked for months, so they rarely need to advertise their services. Companies like Doctolib therefore aim more at optimizing the booking process to e.g. ensure that canceled bookings get backfilled automatically to increase the overall booking rate, though even that is usually not a problem and most doctors overbook their appointments to make sure they stay busy during the day (that's why you often have to wait 30-60 minutes here even if you have an appointment scheduled).

[GeneralTspoon]

> ads for cigarettes

When did this happen? When I was in Munich a few years back there were poster ads for cigarettes everywhere. I remember them being not very subtle about their “smoking is cool” message.

[fosefx]

Tobacco ads are generally banned on Radio, TV, Print and the Web with some exceptions. Outdoor advertising is still very much allowed, Germany is the only EU country that allows this.

Btw manufacturers (not the merchants though) are still allowed to hand out free cigarettes.

[wirrbel]

I think there is some rule that the cigarette ads need to be targeted to smokers and not to non-smokers. As in Marlboro can try to make ads to convince Gauloises smokers to buy Marlboro on their next purchase instead of their usual brand but wouldn’t be allowed to make ads for non smokers to get hooked. (As if it would work That way)

[martin_bech]

Ads for cigarettes have been banned in Europe for a long time, thats why there is zero tobacco in Formula 1. In Denmark its now illegal to show the tobacco in the store, it has to be hidden

[hihihihi1234]

True in the UK too. Cigarette adverts were banned forever ago. Then they stopped displaying them in the store. Now, if I'm not mistaken (I don't smoke), they don't even display branding on the packets - the packets have a very plain, uniform design with no flashy colours or logos.

[iforgotpassword]

TV ads for cigarettes have been banned in (I think) the 70s, but in the public (eg at bus stops) they're still legal.

[morelisp]

This isn't the same kind of advertising and isn't comparable. For most drugs (i.e. until now, non-abortificants) there's few restrictions on what information doctors are allowed to display in their offices, for example. Cigarette packaging is still prominently displayed in stores.

[adhesive_wombat]

In the UK, injury lawyers seem to be allowed (but only those lawyers, I don't recall seeing a general lawyer advert, though I don't think they're explicitly banned). But maybe I just don't watch enough TV.

In fact, they make up a significant percentage of adverts!

[amai]

I also haven't seen ads for hand weapons. Are they illegal in Germany, too?

But there are ads for military weapons, like https://youtu.be/fTBA5tQsDbE.

[Freak_NL]

Ads for hand weapons? You mean like 9mm pistols and such? Why? That would be pointless for the advertiser (not to mention distasteful). German gun control laws are quite strict:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_control_in_Germany

Owning a gun for self-defence is only allowed in rare cases like security personnel and politicians whose lives are threatened. The normal allowed categories are hunting, sports, and collectors, but even then you need a licence (with a few minor exceptions like flint-lock rifles and flare guns).

[johannes1234321]

> I also haven't seen ads for hand weapons. Are they illegal in Germany, too?

I'm not sure about a ban (I guess there is, though) but since gun ownership is restricted the market is quite small. Outside of narrow targeted ads (say in gun owner magazines) it'd be a waste of money.

[samhw]

Jesus, that thing looks like Lamborghini designed a tank…

[schroeding]

> ads for gambling

Not true anymore, in the last years, mostly on private TV channels & internet ads, people are and were being blasted with ads for gambling sites :D

[slightwinder]

> Still banned in Germany: ads for lawyers

Not anymore, since 1987.

[mr_toad]

The US has a reputation for litigiousness and comically large judgements. That probably influences the amount of legal advertising.

[rafram]

Not really - the US isn’t an especially litigious society and that myth was created by large corporations to cause a chilling effect on justified personal injury lawsuits: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/24/americ...

[antientropic]

Not a very convincing article, since it presents some statistics about the US (e.g. "only 10% of injured Americans ever file a claim for compensation and only 2% file lawsuits") but does not compare them to other countries, so we can't tell whether the US is more or less litigious than the rest of the world.

[bowsamic]

> ads for cigarettes

Ads for tobacco seems to be fine though, and ads for vape pens (that actually taunt you into using them) are everywhere

[Torwald]

The US has more "agressive" ads than Germany, because in Germany exists law against such agressiveness. For instance, you are not allowed to put down a competitor, not even mention their products.

"Law against unfair competition"

Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (UWG)

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__6.html

[majewsky]

> For instance, you are not allowed to [...] even mention [a competitor's] products.

This is directly refuted by the section of legal code that you linked. The phrasing in there (translated in German) is along the lines of "Mentioning a competitor's product is unfair advertising if [specific catalog of unfair situations]". The list includes things like "comparing products intended for different purposes and functions" or "comparing products by qualities that are not objectively measurable".

I'm not saying that you will not be walking on thin ice if you engage in comparative advertising. In fact, if you target a particularly litigous competitor, you may have a bad time even if you're within your rights, but to say that comparative advertising is flat out illegal is not backed up by the phrasing of the law as presented in your source.

Disclaimer: IANAL. This is not legal advice.

[odiroot]

And yet there's huge amount of smokers. Not sure banning the ads helped that much.

[Freak_NL]

22.4% in 2017, and dropping. Similar to the Netherlands. All measures taken together — public knowledge of the harm smoking causes, banning of advertising and gradual reduction of places you can buy it, age limits, banning of smoking in offices and various public areas — undeniably help.