Hanoi authorities are struggling to deal with rising number of commercial posters and banners for music events littering the streets.

'Violation' painted on posters

Organisers are only allowed to hang up to 20 posters and banners for 15 days before the show starts. However, organisers often print hundreds of posters.

On November 10, people in Hanoi was surprised upon seeing dozens of posters and banners featuring Dam Vinh Hung and Trong Tan with bright red "violation" painted on them.

To Van Dong, director of Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the promoter, Dong Do Show Company, had put 200 posters so now they had opted to a more visible approach to issuing warnings."Such violations are rampant in the city. We tried to take them down but they would be replaced almost immediately," he said.

Many companies have been fined for illegal postering but the fine is too small and organisers are willing to pay the price to reach a wider audience. The promoter was only fined VND10 million (USD476) for their violation.

Hoang Oanh, a representative of Dong Do Show Company, complained that the number of posters and banners allowed was woefully small for the entire city. Oanh also complained about the authorities writing "violation" across the singers' images, rather ridiculously claiming it could damage the singers' reputation.

Singer Dam Vinh Hung proposed to increase the maximum number of posters. However, Dong doesn't think that this would fix the problem.

"It's not hard to give out permits but whether the organisers will follow regulations or not is another problem," Dong said. "We have to be stricter or else posters will litter the city."

Dtinews