On the signs placed in front of the hospital, there are regular advertisements for food products that a doctor would not recommend to his patients. It was following an inquiry from Vert Ardent on this subject that the hospital decided to renegotiate its contract with JCDecaux. “The question of the well-being of our patients is obviously in our DNA.” emphasizes Antoine Gruselin, spokesperson for the Citadel. “Now, how can we define junk food? It’s a subjective debate. Compared to other messages that would be more political or extremist, the question of junk food is more complicated to define at the legislative level.”
Any interlocutor cannot challenge our partners on any type of product by telling him that it is not good.
The hospital therefore plans to raise these questions with the owner of the advertising furniture in the near future. We have contacted the company which, at present, refuses to make choices with advertisers. “No, no, that can’t be possible” says Jérôme Blanchevoye, spokesperson at JCDecaux, “Any interlocutor cannot challenge our partners on any type of product by telling him that it is not good and telling us to withdraw the advertisement. There is a state, a legislator, public authorities whose role it is to decide what is authorized or not in advertising, what is authorized or not for sale. All the products that are sold meet a number of standards that are extremely strict for people’s health.”
JCDecaux suggests that candy advertisers target their campaign on billboards located less than 500 meters from a school.
For its part, the Liége sans pub collective has been concerned for a long time about the ethical issues that arise from the choice of locations for this type of panel. “LAdvertisers are looking for placements that allow them to target specific populations.” explains one of these spokespersons, “In Liège, JCDecaux offers, for example, candy advertisers to target their campaign on billboards located less than 500 meters from a school.
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