The Médiatransports agency, which manages advertisements in Parisian public transport, said that it would remove the disputed posters
The controversy quickly spread on social networks, with the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo joining the chorus. Netizens posted on Twitter this Thursday, photos of advertisements from the Alliance Vita association, openly anti-abortion and anti-surrogacy, displayed in several Parisian stations.
The text accompanying the ads reads: “Society will progress provided that you respect motherhood”, “Society will progress provided that you respect fatherhood” and “Society will progress provided that you respect difference”. Under each of the advertisements is inscribed the following slogan: “Support for the most fragile”, and the name of the association.
Quickly, many people questioned the agency on Twitter, which manages the advertisements displayed in Parisian public transport, some citing non-compliance with the law on the offense of obstructing abortion.
Contacted by daily Le Parisien, the Médiatransports management evoked a “problem” and said that two visuals would be removed, those presenting the photo of a man and a woman.
“Before displaying a campaign, we check the visuals and ensure compliance with the law and ethics,” explained Alandra Lafay, in charge of communication with the sales manager.
“In this case, this association has the right to communicate,” she continues. However, due to the contract which binds us to SNCF, a public service company, we are subject to an obligation of neutrality. So we cannot display militant messages.”
It is therefore not the substance of the matter that poses a problem in terms of the law, but the fact that it is allegedly “militant content”. The poster presenting the photo of a disabled person will therefore be maintained the agency said.
It actually took less than 48 hours for the mayor of Paris and the SNCF to carry out their threats and have the posters of the awareness campaign of Alliance Vita removed. The association’s “crime” was promoting respect for life, motherhood and fatherhood.
However, Tugdual Derville, general delegate of the Alliance Vita association, said that he intends to continue with the communication campaign launched this week to raise awareness among Ile-de-France residents.
“Alliance Vita has existed for 25 years, it is far from being our first communication campaign,” he told Valeurs Actuelles, shortly after denouncing the censorship on his Twitter account. Hidalgo and the SNCF are both determined to hunt down any opinion that oppose their “progressive” doxa.