Illegal advertising – an eyesore or something more sinister?
Harmful illegal advertising along almost every street is not just an eyesore, its dangerous to communities.
Driving along almost any street with a child of reading age means they are exposed to harmful or distasteful illegal adverts offering services such as abortions, penis enlargements, love potions and more on the way to school.
Justin Jones, a property development consultant and former city planner, believes that apart from being an eyesore, these illegal adverts are harming communities in ways that aren’t always obvious to residents.
He said “Guerrilla marketing and illegal advertising is a pandemic in the city and harms the residential amenity of neighbourhoods. Communities should be safe, secure and not inundated by crime, grime and harmful advertising such as the poster we are at which offers a 30-minute abortion.”
Jones spoke of research conducted by Ruth Atkinson for GroundUP who contacted one of the abortion providers to investigate their legitimacy. She found extremely harmful practices taking place with pills being given to pregnant women by individuals with no medical training, and for pregnancies often long past the legal gestation for abortion.
The service provider she spoke to explained the procedure, ‘The woman was to take two pills orally, and then insert four pills into her vagina. If there was bleeding, she should drink strong tea. He claimed that the pills had been sold to him illegally by a pharmacist at a hospital’.
Jones is a firm believer in the broken-window theory, where a city that deals with the small things, like illegal advertising, creates an atmosphere of order and lawfulness.
The fact that most of these posters are stuck on city infrastructure like substations and light poles shows the municipality is not taking by-law infringements seriously. Residents like Jones and many others are on a crusade to remove harmful advertising and remove them when they can but they need the city to help.
This is further shown when one looks at the signage, much of which is now printed on more expensive plastic sticker paper, showing the investment is worth the additional price for the advertisers.
Illegal advertising has become so entrenched along high-traffic roads in Johannesburg, yet over 78% of all signs in the city are illegal, according to MMC for Corporate Services Leah Knott.
This means the overwhelming number of posters, stickers and signs selling a service or product do not have the written or required approval from the city in terms of by-laws.
Ward 88 councillor Nicolene Jonker said she ‘hopes members of the community will submit comments on the proposed by-law which will go a long way to dealing with is problem’.
If you would like to submit a comment on the draft outdoor advertising by-law which falls under Section 156 of the Constitution, copies will lie open for inspection at city libraries, regional offices and on the city’s website www.joburg.org.za
Written comments must be submitted by 12 July 2022 to commentsoutdooadd@joburg.org.za or at city offices for Region B, 35 Symons Road, ACA Krans Building, Auckland Park.
