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In order to see the situation with external advertisements in Europe, Manolis Stavroulakis visited Britain and Scotland in 2006. There were 380 billboards in London then placed at locations where they could not distract drivers. A municipal employee from London explained to him that the country found out the problem with the distraction of drivers in the dawn of the advertising business 30 years ago. So, the authorities banned them and left those few billboards the rent of which is very expensive. "There are ads elsewhere, of course. They are placed on timber structures near to bus stops without interfering with the traffic on the sidewalk and parallel to the road, without attracting the attention of drivers. There are ads also on the buses, but only on the right side to be accessible to pedestrians, not as is here, and on the back of the bus." There are ads at the bus stops in Scotland too, but they are placed out of the sight of the drivers. "In 2005 they made the following experiment: They placed ads with provocative content at the bus stops in Glasgow, but higher than the level at which the drivers see. During the two days of the test the accidents increased by 25%. So, ads showing nude people were banned in Scotland." They acted in the same way in Switzerland and in Germany and in 1980 the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was forced to take action against outdoor advertising, after public protests organized by the citizens.

Shortly before taking up the Prime Minister post George Papandreou has also taken the initiative against the advertising billboards and PASOK was the only party that did not use them for its campaign. After the elections, the Greek Prime Minister appointed a counselor who is engaged only in the campaign against outdoor advertising. A website is even developed on which the citizens are able to send their complaints. The government initiative includes the opportunities offered by the most modern technologies – the citizens can send images of infringement through their iPhone.

After the campaign held by Manolis Athanasios and Tsiokos Stavroulakis two of the largest Greek advertising companies ceased their activities in the country. The owner of Alma Atermon Vrionis Filippos sold it to the Swiss Affichage holding for 64.9 million euros. Together with the shares the Swiss company got ten thousand legitimate places for outdoor advertising in Greek municipalities. However, when Affichage holding decided to start its activities in Greece, the decision of the Supreme Court that the placement of billboards is illegal and the violators could be arrested was a fact. In a report entitled "In the swamp of Greek corruption" one of the most prestigious German-language newspapers in Switzerland, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, described how the eminent advertising company was cheated. Another big Greek advertising firm Master Media moved its business in Bulgaria.