Exclusive | In Brussels, tram ads for 25th Hong Kong handover anniversary pulled after complaints
- Trams bearing the slogan ‘A New Era – Stability. Prosperity. Opportunity’ were the subject of public complaints and messaging was pulled 24 hours into campaign
- EU lawmaker sanctioned by China last year says roster of events is an attempt to ‘hide the character of John Lee’s new regime behind a guided tour’ of finery
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Ex-Hong Kong governor: the West must ‘constrain China, not contain it’
But just 24 hours into the arrangement the advertising was pulled, the city’s representatives in Brussels confirmed.
“We were warned by a few customers … that it was not as it should be,” said An Van Hamme, a spokeswoman for Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB-MIVB, or STIB), adding that complaints had emerged on social media.
“STIB has a publicity charter which stipulates, among other things, that no publicity may be disseminated with political connotations.”
She said the company classed the messaging on the trams as “political messaging” and therefore it would not fit within its ethical charter. She declined to share the charter, saying it was an internal document.