JEDDAH, 28 September 2003 — An advertising agency is demanding SR10 million from the Jeddah Governorate to compensate it for losses incurred in a recent crackdown on illegal advertising.
Billboards belonging to Al-Tahini Advertising were temporarily covered using paper notices announcing that the ads placed by Al-Tahini violate its advertising agreement with the city of Jeddah.
Mohammed Al-Turkumani, the financial affairs manager for Al-Tahini Advertising, said in an interview: “Our company has incurred millions of riyals in lost revenue as a result of the city covering up our billboards. We stand to lose all our contracts, which are worth SR10 million.
“We signed a three-year contract with the city worth SR9 million last year. Two years still remain until it is time to renew. We were surprised last Saturday to find that the city of Jeddah had pasted violation notice posters over all our billboards. The posters are an eyesore and they degrade Jeddah’s overall appearance. We are shocked at this violation of our contract with the city as there are no stipulations allowing the city to cover up our ads for any reason. The city is now refusing to compensate us for our losses despite the fact that we prepaid for the services for the first year,” Al-Turkumani said.
He said he was seeking a meeting with the Jeddah Governorate to discuss any solutions to this problem. “Should we fail to reach an agreement with the city, we will have no choice but to cancel our contracts with our advertisers. In that event, we are definitely going to take legal action to force the city to pay the full SR10 million,” he said.
Abdullah Al-Moalami from the Jeddah Governorate said: “We had to take action to protect the financial interests of the city as Al-Tahini Advertising are behind in their payments. We have requested payment from them several times and they have not paid.
“We have the right to protect our interests, much like Al-Tahini Advertising does. It is their right and privilege to take whatever action they feel is necessary.”
The cities of Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah have contracts with various companies to post small, medium and large advertisements in high visibility areas such as the entrances to the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah. Advertising space is auctioned to a number of companies.
