Southside BID targets flyposters with social media campaign

ONE of Birmingham city centre’s Business Improvement Districts has launched a campaign to name and shame promoters who litter the area with illegal fly posters.

Over the past six months more than 5,000 fly posters have been pasted across walls and venues in the Southside BID, which encompasses Chinatown, the Gay Village, The Hippodrome and The Arcadian.

Members of the BID said the aim was to tackle the problem with the support of the public to name and shame promoters and venues through social media channels.

Julia Chance, Southside BID manager, said: “Fly posting is illegal for a reason. It dramatically affects the look and feel of an area and creates damaging litter.

“Southside BID has a number of key pledges, which include making the district cleaner, brighter and greener. We have invested in a number of initiatives to improve the area, including an outdoor art festival in summer 2012, and a number of our lasting murals have been blighted by fly-posters which make a negative impact on buildings across the district.

“We have tried reasoning with the venues concerned, all of which are outside of our district, but they blame the promoters who use the grey area of ‘guerrilla’ marketing to avoid responsibility. It’s time for venues and promoters to accept that flyposting has to stop. We’re calling on the public to support us by taking photos of the illegal posters and sending them to us so we can name and shame the culprits.”
 
To support Southside BID in its campaign, members of the public can send photos of fly-posters in the district and post them on twitter with the hashtag #cleanersouthside, or email them to information@southsidebid.co.uk