JEDDAH, 21 October 2007 — Small businesses that paste illegal advertisements on houses and at public places will now be fined and their phone lines cut as a result of a new Jeddah Municipality rule.
The new regulation comes into effect following an upsurge in complaints from members of the public about advertisements defacing people’s homes, doorways and public property.
However, businessmen across the city have expressed concern at the rule. “What if a competitor prints advertisements under my company’s name and pastes them around the city,” said Hamid Al-Khathiri, a Saudi owner of a small home removals company.
Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of press relations at the Jeddah Municipality, said that businesses caught illegally advertising would have their telephone lines immediately cut. “Violating companies would have to pay fines in order to activate their phone lines again,” he said.
Commenting on the fears of business owners, Al-Ghamdi said, “I don’t think such a thing would happen. We will certainly take this into consideration though.” He added that the regulation would be revised and structured in a way ensuring businesses are not falsely accused.
Hamid Al-Ali, manager of a small pest-control company, said that hanging advertisements on doors and public places is a common practice among small companies that cannot afford to advertise through proper channels.
Speaking about the new regulation, he said that since competition is stiff among companies, some might abuse the new law to fight off competitors.
Al-Ghamdi said that the regulation was brought into effect because members of the public were complaining that their homes and doorways were defaced. He said they had launched a citywide campaign to remove the illegal signs.
