City Hall of Chisinau bans alcoholic drinks street advertisement

Over 20 billboards advertising alcoholic drinks will be removed these days. The interim head of the General Architecture and Urbanism Department (GAUD), Nicon Zaporojan, says that the employees who installed them will be sanctioned. The decision was made as a result of the orders given by the interim mayor of Chisinau, Vasile Ursu. He required on Monday, August 7, during mayoralty’s meeting, that the boards advertising vodka have to disappear from the streets of the city. According to the interim mayor, “placing these ad boards is foolishness”. „The municipality has to authorize only the advertisement informing the citizen and providing a healthy lifestyle,” Vasile Ursu noted. The interim mayor also urged the Trade Department to „take care” of the units selling alcoholic drinks, so that vodka bottles would not be posted on the front shelves. According to Ursu, „ one who needs vodka can find it without any advertisement”. According to the officials of the city hall, the majority of boards advertising vodka contain aggressive slogans, and sometimes immoral ones, propagating excessive alcohol consumption – „Just one (bottle) is not enough!”, “You have the right!” etc. The information presented by GAUD shows that about 3,600 ad boards are installed in Chisinau. According to Nicon Zaporojan, 1% of them are unauthorized, as, for the moment, „the advertisement sector in the city is not managed seriously by the city hall”. Chisinau city hall will create very soon a special commission, which will analyze the sate of advertisement in the city.