Greetings illegally placed on billboards in Chisinau

The greetings, declarations of love or marriage proposals are put on street billboards in the municipality of Chisinau without authorization. The local authorities say that they do not authorize the placement of such images. On the other hand, the advertising agents state that the legislation does not ban this. Radu Blaj, acting head of the Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations Division, has told Info-Prim Neo that the law does not clearly say if the setting up of billboards with such content is prohibited. According to the chief architect, such images do not have an aesthetic aspect and do not meet the main criteria of street publicity. Radu Blaj said that before placing such pictures, the economic entities must get an authorization for each of them from the Architecture Division, the Terminology Center and a commission of the Chisinau City Hall that was constituted by order of the mayor general. The images with greetings get to specialists, but are not approved of. However, they appear on the streets. In such cases, the authorities send a notice to the advertising agencies, asking removing the picture. Otherwise, the authorization to place advertisements on the given billboard is withdrawn. According to Radu Blaj, the authorities are drafting new regulations concerning the placement of advertisements, which will remove the existing shortcomings. Under the new regulations, if the advertising agents do not comply, the authorities take the billboard away. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, adverting agency director Victoria Barba said that the greetings are also advertisements and the Law on Advertising does not ban them. “The placement of pictures of guns, alcohol and cigarettes is not allowed. But the greetings are something different. They are coordinated with the authorities and cannot be set up without their approval,” she stated. According to Victoria Barba, the placement of greetings has become a trend. Such a measure is most often used by men who want to surprise their beloved women and costs 1,000 lei on average, depending on the period for which the billboard is rented.