“This is the initiative of workers for the money of advertisers.” The management of St.Petersburg subway answered the question of Yabloko about “Z-advertising”
Press Release, 13.07.2022
Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
“Z-posters” in the St. Petersburg subway are placed on the initiative of the trade union of workers, on the money of an advertising agency. That is how the subway management responded to Yabloko’s request about the legality of placing Z-signs in St.Petersburg metro.
Deputies of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg Alexander Shishlov and Boris Vishnevsky received a response from the head of the subway Yevgeny Kozin about “Z-advertising” on the territory of the subway. The head of the St. Petersburg subway said in his response that the posters had been placed on the initiative of metro employees on 11 March. The costs of placing Z-signs were covered by the advertising agency OOO Metronom.
“That is, instead of making money on advertising, the agency spends it. I wonder if it does so voluntarily. Another question is whether they will also be ready to place posters for peace at their own expense?” Boris Vishnevsky, Yabloko Deputy Chair and a Yabloko MP in the St.Petersburg parliament, notes.
It should be noted that posters with Z symbols appeared in the subway earlier than March 11. For example, at the Ladozhskaya station, the poster was photographed on 6 March, but based on Yevgeny Kozin’s answer, the decision of the metro workers’ trade union to place propaganda signs in support of the “special operation” was made only on 11 March.
Earlier the Yabloko faction in St.Petersburg parliament sent an appeal to Kirill Polyakov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg for Transport, asking to explain on what grounds posters with the Latin letter Z were placed in the subway as symbols of a “special military operation”. Polyakov stated in his response that Z signs belonged “to the category of identification signs, the assignment of a special symbolic and essential meaning to it was the result of informal initiatives”. Such advertising does not require any permissions.
BORIS VISHNEVSKY
is Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and Bureau, and an MP of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
ALEXANDER SHISHLOV
is head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, and a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party
Posted: July 14th, 2022 under Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Russia-Ukraine relations, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.