“A new episode of the saga”LVMH take over the city”? It was in these terms that Emile Meunier questioned the Paris Council last February, about the metal structure which covers the facade of a building under construction – giving it the appearance of a Louis Vuitton trunk – belonging to the giant of luxury on the most famous avenue in the world. For the elected environmentalist, it is not a question of “temporary sign” as the town hall maintains, but from a “disguised advertising”.
With his colleagues, Jérôme Gleizes and Laurent Sorel, in mid-December they sent a free appeal to the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, alongside the associations SOS Paris and Resistance to advertising aggression. In this text written by their lawyer, Me Valentin Güner, they warned that in the absence of a response from the municipality, they would refer the matter to the administrative judge. Joined this Wednesday, December 25, a few days before the fireworks display on the Arc de Triomphe which should see more than a million people flock, Emile Meunier, who chairs the urban planning commission of the Council of Paris, confirmed his intention to “seize the administrative court for abuse of power”.
Classified as a historic monument, the large building will house a new flagship store for the luxury group as well as a hotel, a spa, a restaurant and art galleries. According to the applicants, LVMH filed a request with the city in June 2023 “temporary sign” to put a tarpaulin on it while the work is carried out. Except that, according to statements made to the press by the Paris town hall itself, the false facade is supposed to remain until 2027, the date of the end of the work.
«Squid Game»
Not only is it not temporary, but it is also disguised advertising: “The choice of light shades and materials (mirror) as well as the establishment of a lighting signature in the evening are very clearly aimed […] to attract the attention of passers-by and motorists on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, not to the renovation project, but exclusively to the Louis Vuitton brand by representing its most iconic item,” says the appeal. On the town hall side, it is argued that this tarpaulin is not considered advertising since the building belongs to LVMH. And we recall that the architects of the buildings of France have given their agreement to its implementation.
The multinational's hold on the capital, where it already has more than 350,000 m², added to various operations to privatize public space, is a major subject of friction between the socialist majority and elected environmentalists. Louis Vuitton Foundation encroaching on the Bois de Boulogne, installation of a giant statue of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama accessorized with Vuitton bags on the square at the foot of the Samaritaine, file from the Ecole Polytechnique, privatization of the Pont-Neuf to accommodate the first Pharrell Williams fashion show, all culminating during the Olympic Games where the Vuitton trunk burst the screen of the opening ceremony broadcast on television… Normal, since LVMH was one of the official sponsors of the Paris Olympics? Nevertheless: December 1st, after Emily in Paris, Netflix has once again privatized the Champs-Elysées for the promotion of the series Squid Game, an operation carried out jointly with the Champs-Elysées committee, which brings together all the businesses on the avenue, and whose president is none other than Marc-Antoine Jamet, the general secretary of the LVMH group. The elected environmentalists also wrote to Anne Hidalgo to find out how much this promotional operation had brought to the city.
“Interesting financial transaction”
“There, we say okay to a trunk, but tomorrow, why wouldn't the Nike store make a giant shoe when it wants to renovate its window? Why wouldn't Free make a giant box on the Champs-Elysées? There, it would shock you, but when it’s LVMH, it’s OK.” had underlined Emile Meunier during the Paris Council, recalling that the local advertising regulations “prohibited from mounting an advertising banner, with some exceptions”, and that “this must make up 50% of the surface” and not an entire building. “There is not a Paris Council without us having an exchange on LVMH”, to believe “that you have a particular resentment towards this brand, I don’t know if it’s a customer disappointment”, replied Emmanuel Grégoire, then first deputy in charge of town planning. Before defending the interpretation of town planning services in the direction of “temporary real estate sign” intended to mask, “for a period of more than three months, public works”. Does the absence, in the town planning code, of a maximum time limit explain the divergence of interpretation?
Still, on this issue, the city received the support of the mayor of the 8th arrondissement, Jeanne d'Hauteserre. During this same municipal council meeting, the elected official on the right had praised a “interesting financial operation for the city budget, since taxation on outdoor advertising should bring in 1.7 million euros”. But for Jérôme Gleizes, the financial argument is not sufficient, especially considering the commercial benefits that LVMH derives from this giant advertising. “The socialists are playing a double game: there is the facade and the reality,” denounces the elected environmentalist to Libé. Emile Meunier does not say anything else: “Advertising and the commodification of public space remain a big point of division with our socialist friends, it will be one of the subjects of the 2026 campaign.”
