KARACHI: Mohammad Arif thought he had struck gold when he acquired the sought-after billboard space on Boat Basin, right in the middle of one of the city's upscale localities.

In a bustling metropolis like Karachi, location is everything in the business of out-of-home advertising. But for Arif, who runs his own outdoor advertising company, what could have been a lucrative location turned out to be his worst nightmare.

Arif says his 20x60ft hoarding is positioned right below the statue of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, making it ideal for unpaid ‘political display’.

“I pay Rs 5.8 million annually for this hoarding but I haven’t been able to use it for advertisements even once in the last few months,” says the CEO of Prime Services.

“The city government is not stopping this or even cancelling my license for this site. I am paying for that political promotion from my own pocket.”

Arif is one of many billboard owners in Karachi that suffer the same fate.

The representative body of advertisers claims that all political and religious parties use billboards and hoardings in Karachi to advertise their campaigns but do not pay at all for the taken space.

There are approximately 3,000 billboards covering the sprawling landscape of Karachi that advertisers buy from the city government’s advertising department for a three-year period. Apart from the regular brand promotions, the annual political events of each party are advertised religiously which incur huge losses to the advertisers.

“The parties do not pay a single penny to us, they don’t inform or even thank us for using our billboards,” says Owais Naqvi, a former official of the Sindh Outdoor Advertising Association (SOAA).

“It is not just one party that is involved in this, be it a religious or a political party, everyone has a stake.”

'Everybody does it’

The Karachi chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, however, claims his party always pays for the billboards.

“This information is not true as we do pay the rent. We also take permission from the advertisers before putting the advertisements. If mistakes or misunderstandings occur then we do remove it,” said Naeem-ur-Rehman.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Pakistan People’s Party spokesperson admitted to the practice, and said: “I think it’s alright if the campaigns are put up on the billboards for three to four days.”

“Yes this surely happens and this has always been the practice in Karachi. I admit that we do not pay the advertisers,” says an office bearer of Muttahida Quami Movement, also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“I do not believe that any party pays at all, it’s not just the MQM which is involved. Everybody does it!”

Mandatory coverage

“Each party has their calendar events lined up which we have to accommodate; Yaum-e-Tasees, Altaf Hussain’s birthday, his daughter’s birthday, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death and birth anniversary, Muharram posters, zakat, animal skin advertisements. The list is endless,” says Naqvi.

“These are the mandatory event coverages, but the strikes, jalsas and protest promotions are unaccounted and unnumbered.”

The existing Panaflex sheets – or ‘skins’, as the advertisers call it – are not removed but covered by a new skin without any prior notification by the parties. “This disrupts our client’s campaigns and they either refuse to pay for the days that their posters are hidden, or we are asked to compensate for the discontinued days.”

The indemnification is not readily accepted; the conditions laid out for advertisers become stricter. “We have to make sure the product promotion is done in the same area with similar exposure. The clients reject our compensation at times too,” says Naqvi.

“We are out of business for approximately three to four months every year; the least the government can do is give us tax relief for these days. When we are unable to pay the tax fully they call us defaulters,” says Arif, the unfortunate owner of the Boat Basin hoarding. The annual tax includes land rent and sky rent that has to be paid to the city government.

It is not only the advertisers who bear the brunt but fabricators, the printing sector and colour sector also get affected by non-payment.

“Business comes to a stand-still whenever political parties intervene. At times they would put up party flags on the billboards and we are answerable to that because the clients complain,” says Syed Mohammad Nasir of Super Arts advertising agency.

Resist at your own risk

Nasir from Super Arts claims that resisting or taking down political hoardings comes with consequences. “If we try to remove the skin, the party members not only threaten but even beat our men and get them locked up too.”

When Mohammad Arif tried to take off a party’s panaflex, he received threatening calls for days which he persistently ignored.

“When I paid no heed to them, they ordered the client whose campaign was on the billboard to remove it or the rest of the campaign would be torn down from the city too,” he says.

The SOAA has taken the matter to the Sindh High Court against City District Government Karachi, Sindh Government and the Election Commission (case no. CP D38 2013) and are expecting to hear its response in the coming months.

— Additional reporting by Umer Bin Ajmal