A/69/286 84. Another growing trend is to sell companies the right to select names for prominent buildings, streets and sports halls. The impact this has on the symbolic landscape of cities and people’s perceptions should be considered, and public discussion and the participation of local residents in decision -making ensured. Some States, including El Salvador, have adopted laws to impede this trend. 2. Artistic creation and the public space 85. Corporations, artists claim, try to co-opt public space used by graffiti artists, for example, for commercial messaging. 41 Indeed, advertising companies have demanded that murals be regulated by the same codes applicable to advertisement billboards. 86. While acknowledging that States have different approaches to graffiti, the Special Rapporteur is concerned by the sharp disparity between the paucity of action and enabling mechanisms for removing illegal billboards compared with the far greater resources devoted to removing illegal graffiti, with sanctions in the form of fines and even jail sentences. D. Art and cultural programming, artistic expression and creativity 1. Advertising on television 87. Television remains a key medium for advertisement, and advertisements are the principal source of income for television channels. To attract advertisers, channels need to attract the target audience of companies. Studies reveal the impact of advertising on programme content, for instance channels not offering content to groups with low purchasing power and the managing director of a television channel averring that the aim was to sell “available parts of human brains” to advertisers. 42 It is further argued that the increased representation of violence in programmes reinforces the efficiency of advertising: individuals subjected to emotional stress retain messages delivered to them better. In addition, a number of biochemical reactions make people more inclined to consume food with a high fat and sugar content. 43 88. Embedded advertising on television is also of concern. 44 Article 13 (2) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires parties to implement a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship or to apply restrictions that are as comprehensive as possible. The guidelines for implementing this provision recognize that the depiction of tobacco in films is a form of promotion. Prohibitive or restrictive measures need not interfere with legitimate types of expression, however, such as journalistic, artistic or academic expression or legitimate social or political commentary. Nonetheless, States should take steps to prevent the use of journalistic, artistic or academic expression or social or political commentary for the promotion of tobacco use or tobacco products. __________________ 41 42 43 44 14-58963 Gwenaëlle Gobé, King of the Line (documentary film). Les associés d’EIM, Les dirigeants face au changement: baromètre 2004, Les Éditions du huitième jour, 2004. Michel Desmurget, TV lobotomie: La vérité scientifique sur les effets de la télévision, Max Milo, 2011. WHO, Smoke-free Movies: From Evidence to Action, 2011. 19/26