Amsterdam has a new Ad campaign telling young Brits looking for a messy night out to stay away

[OldHouseLover]

It's pretty bad when there had to be an actual ad campaign?

Do you think it's fair that only British people are targeted?

Russians can’t really visit at the moment though so no need for an ad campaign to detract them

the Mayor of amsterdam is also trying to move the red light district outside of the city centre.

Good grief! I live on the other side of the world, and even I know there is more to Amsterdam than sex and drugs.

And this is the problem. Amsterdam is seen as seedy by lots of people when it's actually a really beautiful city and it's not all sex and drugs forced in your face like people suggest.

Do you think it's fair that only British people are targeted?

I lived in Ansterdam for 6 years. The British tourists are much louder and more troublesome than other tourists. Act much more drunk and drugged. It's like they need to show off instead of having fun (although I disagree with anyone using prostitutes, that's not fun, thst's using vulnerable people).

It's targeted at British men because it's British men who are probably getting arrested for being 'messy'. The men who want to go away in groups to Amsterdam aren't going for museum's and art are they?

Actually there are prostitutes and coffeeshops in the whole of the country. It's just Amsterdam where the tourists turn up and behave awfully. In other cities people just go to the prostitutes or coffeeshops, do their thing and leave again quietly.

Yeah I think a lot of posters see ‘Amsterdam’ and immediately go to RLD and coffeeshops. (Most don’t even seem to know the difference between coffeeshops and coffee shops.) It’s a bit like reducing London to Leicester Square and claiming it’s ‘a bit touristy’. As usual, British exceptionalism is extremely reductive and oftentimes a bit thick.

So I can only conclude that most of them have never been, or went but managed to constrain themselves to a tiny portion of the city. Amsterdam isn’t some perfect utopia — no city is — but it’s way, way more than prostitutes and weed, and it is the height of ignorance to claim otherwise.

And despite the generally harrumphing that’s gone on in this thread, the city — and the Dutch government more broadly — is actively trying to tackle some of the issues in a way that has sustained and lasting results. More so than a lot of cities in the UK, all of which have their own prostitution and drug issues. And Amsterdam has been doing this for a long time — for example, programmes to lift women out of prostitution and away from the criminal gangs/traffickers have been going on for decades.

Dutch people can hear the differance between a Brit or a Scandinavian or German speaking English.

It’s not surprising that a city that makes sex and drugs more accessible has become a destination for males interested in that stuff.

There is more to Amsterdam of course, as a young euro traveller we included it and have been back since for other reasons than above.

Whether telling a specific group of men to stay away will have any impact it’ll be interesting to see.

Because it cannot possibly be, innit.

I am from a city originally which had influx of british stag and hen nights. It's fucking embarrassment and annoyance. Totally ruined nights out for locals. I remember when it started. The way the men talked to us was disgusting. Yes, prostitution is legal where I am from, but it was just brits who seemed to not understand that not every woman in a bar is a prostitute.
Italians were loud arsea during the day bit left us alone at least.
I am pretty sure they wouldn't talk like that to germans tho, who have famous brothels

@Knullrufs 5*!

Yeah...but what do you envisage when you think of Amsterdam? Piss ups, stoners and blokes buying sex.

Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, art galleries, Vondelpark, canal cruises, old buildings and churches, lovely exhibitions, shopping, lovely restaurants (mostly outside of the city centre), walking around everywhere.

You find what you're looking for. I like visiting Amsterdam but hated living there due to the tourists.

Well let's hope it works then and the British stags stay away and only families, polite young ladies and lovely older couples can have a smoke and other naice European punters can select the prostitute of their choice and gawp in the windows in more peaceful times.

The Dutch have this sorted 😂

Very well said @Knullrufs 👏
The ignorance & arrogance on the thread is astounding.

It's just as accessible in other cities in NL though...

We were in Amsterdam this time last year. Although we steered well clear of the red light district you can't avoid the drugs and coffee shops which are everywhere. And even in a non red-light area, there are women sitting in windows waiting for punters. It's a weird place.

We did see some drunken, stoned bad behaviour but the group was German. I know everyone on MN loves to believe that British people are just the worst at everything and that the rest of Europe loathes us with a passion, but it's not the case. Young people (and no so young people to be fair) from many other parts of Europe with stricter laws on prostitution and drugs go to Amsterdam. The British might be targeted on this ad campaign, then it will be Germans, Danes, Belgians.

This.

Honestly I would love to visit Amsterdam, the thing that puts me off is the thought of people on drugs, and the fact that everyone I've spoken to who has been there has done drugs and it just seems like stoned people are unavoidable - that's probably not the case but it's a shame because it puts people off visiting for other reasons.

Amsterdam doesn't have the reputation described here outside of the UK. I live in Belgium and we see Amsterdam as a beautiful city with a lot of culture. In fact my DD15's class had a schooltrip to Amsterdam a few weeks ago.

We have red light districts too and the government tries to ensure people are treated well and have full access to health services. The trafficked sex slaves are not usually in windows.....

So it is the UK attitude that has created this reputation....

I doubt the group you’re trying to keep away are that fussed

I'm probably the only person in the world that doesn't love Amsterdam. Seedy, dirty, unfriendly, boring, people smoking everywhere even when they're eating.

The Dutch are reaping what they have sowed here with their ridiculous drugs and prostitution laws. Do they honestly think that these women standing in windows are happy hookers and haven't been trafficked?

Also out of interest, do other countries not do stag dos then?

How embarrassing 😳

I think some people are really missing a point that prostitution including brithels is legal in number of european countries including some posh ones. Cannabis for recreational use has been decriminalised in like 15? It's not just NL who has these things available.

I took my parents to Amsterdam with my two sons who were under 5 at the time in 2019. We had a great time and wandered into the RDL in the evening and there were a few police officers telling people no photography. It was nothing like what I had seen in movies and there were people of all ages walking through including families like us. It didn’t scream seedy, dangerous place, it was pretty much a street full of buildings with large windows and low lights. If it wasn’t for the police and a barely there sign, wouldn’t have known it wasn’t just an ordinary street.