ISLAMABAD: Billboards that hide Islamabad’s green look are banned under the Capital Development Authority (CDA) rules, but not if they blink.
“Your information is wrong,” said the Deputy Director General of CDA’s municipal administration, Mansoor Ahmed Khan, brushing aside a query about the two-digital billboards that have appeared on the scenic Khyaban-i-Iqbal, popularly called Margalla Road, after the one erected at Peshawar Mor.
“They are not advertising billboards,” he explained.
“They are trivision, and we are permitted to install them in Islamabad.”
CDA Chairman Syed Tahir Shahbaz saaid that the policy adopted in 2010 against billboards within the city — except on the top of commercial buildings and on the Islamabad Expressway — was still there.
But people in the advertising business know better the difference between the digital trivision which flashes a set of ads and a billboard where an ad sits fixed.
“Both are outdoor units and designed to attract buyers for the product advertised,” one advertising manager said.
“A billboard is an outdoor unit that projects a single message. A trivision is also an outdoor unit but projects three messages in succession,” he said.
The difference that clinches the argument is that a trivision, a bit smaller than a billboard, generates more revenue for the site holder. internews
