International advertising agency claims City Hall imperils business development

The McCann-Erickson Moldova, part of the McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertisement Network, claims that the decision-making manner of the Chisinau City Hall stirs uncertainty in the capital’s business environment. The Agencytold a news conference on Friday, December 22 that it will repeatedly address an open letter to the interim mayor of Chisinau, Vasile Ursu, concerning the prohibition of placing some advertising materials on the billboards in Chisinau, and then will sue the City Hall. The Agency’s manager Natalia Puhleacova stated that the first letter addressed in November from the Association of Publicity Agencies from Moldova did not have any impact on the local authorities, who didn’t cancel their illegal actions. Puhleacova also mentioned that she had several attempts to have hearings at the mayor and the chief architect of the municipality, Nicon Zaporojan, but each time she was announced that the officials are not in their offices. Puhleacova mentioned that the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations (DAURF) approved the model with the advertising product of the “Russkii Razmer” vodka on October 23. It totally corresponded to the provisions of the law on publicity and the ethical norms, provided for advertising alcohol: it did present neither the process of consuming alcohol, nor the message encouraging doing so. Moreover, the mentioned model has been coordinated with the National centre of terminology. After signing the model, the Agency prepared advert images estimated at EUR 1,842 and signed agreements with 6 advertising companies, valued at USD 9,000. However, on November 8, the owners of several advertisement networks involved in displaying the respective images received letters signed by the head of the publicity division within DAURF, Serghei Polihovici, requesting to take off these images without delay because they “contravene the norms of good faith and social mentality”. Another reason claimed was that of “bad quality” of this type of publicity. The local authorities did not show any interest in discussing the issue with the representatives of the agency in order to reach an amiable agreement, which would recover the financial loss of the company via other advertising actions. Puhleacova considers that the manner in which local authorities dare to make such decisions creates insecurity in the administration of the future businesses in Moldova. The Agency also solicits that the City Hall elaborates and approves in due time a document which would stipulate concrete rules publicity makers should follow when designing images, so that similar illegalities are not committed in the future.