Escort ad was revised to follow bylaw

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This article was published 24/04/2019 (2506 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A city councillor says public surprise with a Portage Avenue billboard advertising an escort service should be tempered with assurance that city hall monitors the content of similar advertising.

Coun. Sherri Rollins said city hall regulates the wording of advertising for a wide range of businesses, including escort services, adding the billboard on Portage Avenue complies with city bylaws.

Rollins said the Doing Business In Winnipeg bylaw prohibits the blatant advertising of sexual services or the display of any graphic sexual images.

“I am a proponent of a healthy and safe Winnipeg, which our bylaws should support,” Rollins said.

The billboard promoting ­SensationalSerena.com is believed by Winnipeg police to be the first billboard in the city to actively promote a companion or escort service.

But Rollins said a similar billboard advertisement was first placed on Academy Road, promoting ­SensualSerena.com. Rollins said complaints to bylaw enforcement resulted in the billboard advertising being removed and the wording, and the website, revised to its current iteration.

“It literally implied sex and that’s why it was taken down,” Rollins said of the Academy Road billboard advertising.

Section 31 (21) of the Doing Business in Winnipeg bylaw states: An escort and a person who carries on the business of operating an escort agency or an independent escort agency must not allow any handbill, sign, business card or advertisement which represents or advertises the business in any media, including the internet, to (a) show or depict all or part of a nude male or female body; or (b) state, imply or suggest that the service provided includes any form of sexual or nude entertainment.

Rollins said she contacted the businesswoman, who agreed to change the wording.

“She’s one of the few licensed escort services in the city and she’s trying to comply” with the advertising provisions of the bylaw, Rollins said.

Rollins said she is critical of the advertising agency that placed the original Academy Road sign, adding that while the local billboard industry is quick to complain about the city’s regulations on billboards, they don’t seem to be doing a good job of self-regulation.

Rollins said she’s satisfied that the city’s bylaw enforcement staff are monitoring billboards and taking appropriate action when necessary.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca