Well.. actually the mayor of Amman does care. That’s why the Greater Amman Municipality has announced plans to finally ban rooftops and regulate this whole billboard chaos in Amman, which is giving our city that cheap-rampant-commercialism-third-world look.

Now, the billboard companies are pushing back, raising all kinds of objections against the planned regulations. Twenty of these companies have issued a letter to the GAM complaining (I can’t find a link to the news story, it would be great if someone could point us somewhere). Part of the complaint is that the alternative solutions that the GAM has promised have not materialized. One can certainly understand that this growing industry is worried about the new regulations.

But, as expected the billboard ad companies, are going out of their way, warning about the economic consequences of the upcoming measures. They now are playing the ‘threatened jobs’ card, saying that loads of people, working in the field of printing, inks, installation etc etc will be affected.

The GAM has actually asked for the cooperation of the billboard companies in drawing up alternatives. I don’t know if that succeeded (it seems it hasn’t as the companies are talking about the ‘missing alternatives’).

But one thing is sure. We’re drowning in a sea of billboards and something has to be done. Something drastic actually. Just letting the current chaos, driven by greed, lack of taste and lack of regulations would be a disaster for Amman.

And with the growth in the field of advertising, I am sure the billboard companies will not go bust if this industry in properly regulated.

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