TURKMENISTAN: OUTDOOR ADVERTISING TIGHTLY CONTROLLED

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000034

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN; EEB
COMMERCE FOR EHOUSE/DSTARKS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI PHUM BBSR PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: OUTDOOR ADVERTISING TIGHTLY CONTROLLED


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Outdoor advertising in Ashgabat is a
potentially lucrative sector, but not all advertising
companies can break into the closely-guarded market. The
Ashgabat municipality functions as the sole proprietor of
advertising space in the capital. To date, advertising via
posters and billboards is considered relatively inexpensive
for larger businesses, but often cost-prohibitive for small to
mid-sized businesses. There have been reports that city
officials banned "western" images of people appearing on
outdoor posters and billboards, and have encouraged companies
to use traditional Turkmen images instead. END SUMMARY.


3. (SBU) The Government of Turkmenistan (GOTX) reportedly
encourages outdoor advertising largely because Turkmen
President Berdimuhamedov wants Turkmenistan's capital to look
and feel like a modern, developed city. The Ashgabat mayor's
office rents billboards to private advertising agencies, who
in turn sell advertising space to companies. Advertising
agencies often must have long-standing personal relationships
with the Mayor's office in order to rent the billboards.
Since city officials hold a monopoly on leasing billboard
locations, advertising agencies can be forced to
sweeten the pot and corruption is reportedly rampant. If
advertising agencies are willing to pay more, they can
secure more attractive locations for their client's
billboards. Ultimately the costs for outdoor advertising,
both legitimate and under the table, are passed on
to the clients seeking to place their advertisements.


4. (SBU) There are several advertising agencies in Ashgabat,
offering various advertising products. Larger agencies can
offer packages which include billboard design, production and
placement, leaflets and television commercials. The average
cost for renting a billboard for an entire year is
approximately $4,000. Television commercials during prime-
time generally run around $50 per minute.


5. (SBU) Local advertising representatives told us that,
on billboards displaying people, images of people with
"western-looking" features (e.g., light eyes and hair) are
less likely to get approval than images of people who "look
Turkmen." One advertising agency executive told us that the
Russian cell phone company MTS was forced to eliminate blond-
haired and blue-eyed people from its billboards, replacing
them with "Turkmen looking people" dressed in traditional
Turkmen clothing, in order to ensure that its billboards were
not banned by government censors.


6. (SBU) COMMENT: For large companies with advertising
budgets, the hassle nd additional costs associated with the
corrupt bureaucracy do not deter them from advertising. Most
smaller companies, however, are forced to stick to "word of
mouth" as their primary method of advertising. END COMMENT

CURRAN