Billboard craze hits cause promoters, advertisers

Has Malta gone billboard crazy? If the numbers are anything to go by, the answer is a definite yes!

According to spokesmen from the political parties, the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party have erected some 80 billboards between them.

In addition, the Malta Transport Authority has another 82 sites earmarked for commercial or educational billboards. However, no official statistics exist on the total number gracing, or spoiling, roadsides.

Whatever their merits or demerits, billboards are a definite improvement on a past practice: party activists used to plaster the country with candidates' promotional material, and no house façade, wall or club front was spared. Incidents of violence were not a rarity as activists clashed with their rivals in the dead of night, when the work was usually done.

The practice was banned and made an offence.

Considering that billboards were practically non-existent until a few years ago, the concept of outdoor advertising and propaganda in Malta has really caught on.

Ever since the announcement of the EU referendum, political messages have been the order of the day, different localities have been awash with billboards displaying different messages.

Political parties were exempted from the Advertisements (Amendment) Order 1999 of the Development Planning Act 1992 which specifies that a permit is required - nowadays from the Malta Transport Authority, previously from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, according to Transport Authority spokesman Daniela Borg.

In fact the law lays down that "An advertisement which relates exclusively to a general election or to an election for local councils and which is displayed not earlier than three months before and not later than one month after the month after the date on which such an election is held" does not require a permit.

However, Ms Borg explained, the authority urges political parties to follow a number of criteria and guidelines for the safe placing of billboards.

These include that billboards should not be placed within 15 metres of any approach to major roads or junctions so as not to obstruct visibility.

Billboards or any of the attachments or supports are not to cause glare, and the support of any billboard must be stable in all weather conditions.

Another guideline is that decency is to be observed in the graphic design of all billboards.

One which could be introduced, if it does not exist, is to make the messages easily legible: motorists are likely to be distracted if they are trying to read not easily decipherable writing while they drive. One such message on the Rabat road was not easy to read because there was poor contrast between the wording and its background.

Though both political parties have reported vandalism on their billboards during the past weeks, the vast majority have remained untouched.

Billboards were spared the traditional post-election fracas following the outcome of the EU referendum result after the parties came up with the bright idea of concealing them in commercial material on the eve of the election.

Roadside billboards have sometimes been a point of contention as a potential cause of distraction.

In Cyprus, legislation banning billboards from roadsides was presented on the grounds that the safety of drivers and pedestrians was of paramount importance.

The local political billboards, most of which depict beaming individuals, might be, however, less of a threat to motorists than the ones sprouting out in other European cities.

International road safety experts recently said there was a danger of drivers being distracted by a series of billboard advertisements for lingerie that have sprung up in London and other major cities.