Why is it difficult to eliminate classified ads?

Ho Chi Minh City lacks solutions and not enough people to handle the situation, so violators find ways to deal with it, causing widespread posting of classified ads on construction sites and electric poles.

In front of Tu Du Hospital on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, the electrical cabinet and the wall along the side are covered with graffiti and a series of advertisements with the content "loan installment". Because it is a crowded place, with many people from the countryside coming to seek medical treatment, it is a place to advertise loans and illegal credit.

Security guards here said that the hospital and local authorities constantly check and remove illegal advertisements, but they are removed one day and then recur the next. "They ride motorbikes, carry a stack of advertising papers, apply glue, and then leave immediately, so it's very difficult to stop them," said a security guard here.

An electric pole on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, Binh Thanh District, is covered with classified ads, interspersed with rough scratches, on the morning of September 23. Photo: Giang Anh — An electric pole on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, Binh Thanh District, is covered with classified ads, interspersed with rough scratches, on the morning of September 23. Photo: *Giang Anh*

The practice of pasting advertisements on construction sites has been rampant in Ho Chi Minh City for many years. From small alleys to large roads, people everywhere see advertisements on electrical cabinets, walls, lamp posts, traffic signal posts... Layers of advertising paper are pasted on top of each other, interspersed with scratched and erased marks. Many trees are also nailed to post advertisements for loans, wifi installation, electrical equipment, septic tank pumping, land sales...

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Duc, Chairman of Ward 4 People's Committee (District 3) said that the situation of posting advertisements and classified ads is causing frustration, but it is difficult to completely resolve even though the locality continuously arranges people to check, punish violations, and combine propaganda measures. Every Saturday, the ward police, militia and residential groups check and remove classified ads with illegal content, but cannot completely prevent them.

Not only in the central area, many other districts in Ho Chi Minh City are also "headaches" with this situation. A representative of the People's Committee of Binh Thanh District said that recently many violations have been discovered but the handling process is difficult, related to additional penalties or remedial measures regarding advertising. Not to mention, enforcing violators to implement remedial measures requires coordination between many forces and high implementation costs, leading to even more difficulty in handling.

In the first 6 months of the year, Binh Thanh district has launched 48 campaigns to remove tens of thousands of advertisements, classified ads, and dismantle illegal banners, posters. However, the number of fines for violators of advertising posts is very small, only 4 cases with a total of 6 million VND. The fine of 1-2 million VND for individuals and double that for organizations violating Decree 38 is considered too light, difficult to deter.

Mr. Vo Trong Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the situation of posting advertisements on public works is a problem of the city but cannot be completely handled because violators always find ways to deal with it. To avoid patrols or surveillance cameras, these people often do it at dawn. In some cases, they even arrange for someone to sit on a motorbike with the engine running, do the operation very quickly and then leave.

Classified ads are pasted over a layer of anti-classified grass on Nguyen Kim Street, District 5. Photo: Dinh Van — Classified ads are pasted over a layer of anti-classified grass on Nguyen Kim Street, District 5. Photo: *Dinh Van*

Wallpaper is usually weather-resistant, and the glue sticks very firmly to walls and concrete columns. When using paint, they have ready-made letter and number templates that just need to be pressed onto a flat surface and sprayed for a few seconds. "Even to prevent removal, people who put up advertisements also attach iron hooks and razor blades, which is dangerous for cleaners," said Mr. Nam.

According to Mr. Nam, in the past, some districts used non-stick paint or installed covered signs allowing advertisements and classified ads to combat this, but they were not effective. For example, in District 5, the locality wrapped rough plastic grass on the electric poles, but they were still overlapped or partially removed to install classified ads. In addition, the local forces are still thin, and the patrol and handling time is fixed, so the handling is not effective.

In addition to the fact that the posters always change their methods to deal with the situation, handling the matter based on the phone numbers posted on the classified ads is also not feasible. According to lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, there are currently no regulations on blocking phone number accounts in classified ads, illegal spray painting. Meanwhile, most of the units and individuals behind them also use unregistered numbers, junk SIM cards. Therefore, to punish, the authorities must catch the posters red-handed or have images to prove the act.

To limit this, lawyer Quang suggested that localities should proactively monitor and handle the situation of advertising and graffiti instead of taking preventive measures. The government can encourage people living in places where this situation often occurs to monitor and use their phones to record violations and license plates, then send them to the authorities for handling. Since the license plates have been identified, it will be easier to find violators.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City, Vo Trong Nam, said that there should be strong measures and the root cause should be to track down organizations that provide services of hiring people to post advertisements and spray paint classified ads. The authorities should add the form of community service punishment along with administrative sanctions to increase deterrence.

District 10 police force violators to remove classified ads on water pipes in July. Photo: Minh Van — District 10 police force violators to remove classified ads on water pipes in July. Photo: *Minh Van*

In May, Ho Chi Minh City police launched a campaign to remove illegal advertisements at public works and compiled a list of 367 phone numbers related to financial loans with nearly 50 individuals suspected of illegal credit lending activities for verification.

The police also prosecuted 6 cases, 32 defendants related to acts of intentionally damaging property, lending money at high interest rates in civil transactions. The authorities arrested many people who posted advertisements, sprayed paint to smear, scraped and erased at the place of violation and urged photocopying and printing establishments not to make advertisements.

Gia Minh - Dinh Van

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