When a toddler first learns to walk, we celebrate. Then many cities are designed to make walking unpleasant and unsafe.

As if that were not bad enough, companies place advertisements that directly discourage walking. Some bus companies accept ads for cars and car repair shops, or even direct anti-transit ads. Other car companies use ads that suggest walking is really too much of a bother.

Governments should take a harder stance against ads that promote health-destroying products and practices, just as most have already done for tobacco products. Governments should be promoting healthy populations, and an important part of a healthy lifestyle is walking. Governments should recognize that some forms of advertising are not acceptable. If this were a slippery slope where governments would then ban ads for soft drinks, junk food, and even cars and motorbikes, well, I hardly see how we would be any worse off for it!