Moscow plans to dismantle the round advertising billboards often used to publicize theater events, a city official said.
The cylindrical billboards are to be dismantled by July 1, as are the nearly 7,000 advertisement stands hung on concrete blocks, city media and advertising department head Vladimir Chernikov said in an interview with Izvestia published Tuesday.
Chernikov called the situation with the advertising stands "complete chaos," because permission for use of thousands of stands can be given at once.
He also said the city still hasn't received about 7 billion rubles ($224.7 million) in fees accrued by advertisers renting the stands over the past five years.
The city is planning to create a new unified system for placing advertisements on banners and billboards using tenders that will make the process competitive, the advertising head said.
Chernikov said the city is trying to put a more friendly face on the city. They are even developing new models for city benches borrowed from Prague.
"You absolutely cannot sit on Moscow benches in winter or in summer — they were designed from the beginning not for people, … but for displaying advertisements," Chernikov said.
He said the city also wants to keep major advertisements out of the city center, pushing larger ads outside the Garden Ring.
