The evaluation report of the “Oui pub” experimentthe system provided for by article 21 of the Climate and Resilience law aimed at allowing citizens to receive printed advertising only if they have explicitly requested it by affixing a label to their mailbox – which will end on April 30, 2025 – has just been made public. In the end, fourteen local authorities and voluntary groups, which in total cover just over 2.7 million inhabitants, were selected to participate. But the rates of affixing the mention “Yes pub” turn out to be quite low: between 0.33% and 18.42%. Paper advertising remains an information medium appreciated by certain advertisers, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas, and by certain consumers, particularly people who are far from digital.
The report is based both on Ademe’s evaluation work in the pilot territories and on an evaluation of the socio-economic impact carried out by the General Inspectorate of the Environment and Sustainable Development (Igedd) . Main conclusion: “the ‘Oui pub’ experiment made it possible to significantly limit waste and paper waste generated by IPSAs [imprimés publicitaires sans adresses]significantly more marked reduction than that observed on the national territory”. The representatives of the pilot territories and their inhabitants are also “rather satisfied”, with no desire to go back, and 89% of the pilot territories say they are elsewhere favorable to an extension or perpetuation of the system.
Conclusions difficult to confine to the sole effect of “Yes pub”
In the pilot territories, the data transmitted show very significant reductions in the tonnes of paper collected during the experiment compared to the period which preceded it (between 20% and 70% reduction, with an average of 48%), as well as concerning the share of advertising print in these tonnages (the initial share of between 17%-40% depending on the territory has increased to 5%-19%, i.e. a halving of advertising print in this waste). The “Oui pub” experiment “very probably counted in this acceleration [de la réduction des tonnages] but it remains difficult to assess the share”, notes the report. Especially since this trend, reinforced by the health crisis and the increase in the cost of paper, is part of an overall context of reduction in tonnages of papers collected since 2019, well before the “Oui pub” experiment, implemented since 2022. Since 2020, the use of paper for prospectuses in France has also been decreasing. prospectus fell to around 400,000 tonnes, a drop of 55% compared to 2019.
-No winner on environmental impact
At the same time, Ademe carried out a comparative study of the environmental impact of advertising campaigns through print distribution and those carried out digitally. The transition from paper type advertising to digital, in which the “Oui pub” experiment is part, leads to a change in the nature of environmental impacts, in particular a reduction in impacts on indicators linked to the consumption of fossil resources (global warming, fine particles), and an increase in impacts on indicators linked to resource consumption and the production of waste electrical and electronic equipment. These impacts are differently distributed between paper and digital communications and “it is not possible to draw a general conclusion on this subject, as there are so many variables”, underlines the study, which notes, among other things, advertising media and varied consumer journeys, and therefore does not venture into a hierarchy of channels. “In any case, less use of paper with increased use of digital technology has environmental impacts,” she concludes, while advocating eco-design actions for commercial campaigns and “necessary sobriety”.
The socio-economic evaluation of the experiment also noted the reorganizations or cessations of activities suffered by the Ipsa sector without again being able to precisely quantify the impact of the “Yes pub” factor. “The medium of printed advertising remains important for generating in-store traffic for small local businesses located in peri-urban or rural areas,” the report also recognizes. This is also one of the arguments of the Cercle d’Alliés, a group of economic players linked to printed advertising and paper, to oppose a generalization of “Yes advertising”. “Less printed advertising does not mean less advertising, but a transfer to digital to the detriment of the survival of local commerce”, he argues in particular in his press release, also pointing out “(the) endangerment ( de) an entire French paper industry, from forestry to recycling, including stationers, printers and distributors.
