KEY POINTS:
Opponents of the proposed inner-city billboard ban claim the Auckland City Council's own advertising spaces on Queen St far outnumber the commercial billboards.
Mark Venter, director of outdoor advertising company OTW, counted signs, flags, billboards and banners in Queen St one day in January and found just 10 of 140 "commercial advertising opportunities" he spotted were billboards.
Most of the spaces he noted were owned or controlled by the council, he said.
"It's completely hypocritical," said Mr Venter. "They are saying one thing and doing another."
No banners were strung across Queen St yesterday but flags on poles near Aotea Square promoted the council's own Queen St upgrade project.
A council spokeswoman questioned whether the flags and street banners should be called advertising because only approved non-commercial or event related organisations could use them.
Mr Venter said banners strung across the street were often used to advertise events, such as the Heineken Open tennis champs, which, he said, effectively advertised a beer brand.
Mr Venter liked the "visual assault" of Queen St when Chinese New Year lanterns where in place.
But he said the council's use of the space was at odds with its proposed hard line on signs and billboards.
"A cynical person would say they are trying to create a regulated monopoly."
The finding was one of several claims published in a full-page ad from the Outdoor Advertising Association and Communication Agencies Association in yesterday's Herald.
Mr Venter counted the flags, cross-street banners, bus shelter advertising and plinths in the Britomart precinct in his tally. He said the cross street super flags - "the super big ones 16m by 8m" - were bigger than most of the billboards in Queen St.
