Last update - 00:00 01/11/2006
Orange cellular company removes ads from Tel Aviv school
By Yulie Khromchenko, Haaretz Correspondent
A Tel Aviv high school on Wednesday removed from its courtyard a mural advertising the Orange cellular company, weeks after receiving NIS 1 million from the company to display its slogans.
The murals were removed after an article in Haaretz revealed that they had been placed in the school yard without approval from the education ministry.
Tel Aviv municipal authorities who came to investigate the situation at Rogizin High School found that a team claiming to be employed by Orange had erased the advertisements earlier this week.
The Orange company had paid the school NIS 1 million to display the advertisements. The student body of Rogozin High School comprises mainly students of low socio-economic standing, namely children of foreign workers and new immigrants.
After being paid by Orange, the school painted its courtyard in the company's color and plastered slogans from its new advertising campaign around the yard.
The murals were a violation of education ministry regulations that prohibit advertising on school property without approval from the education ministry.
After the advertisement was removed, the trade ministry's supervisor of consumer protection, Yitzhak Kamahi, threatened to file a lawsuit against the cellular company.
Orange issued a statement Wednesday saying that the decision to place the advertisements on the school grounds was "a good deed intended to help students from the lower social classes."
Since the name of the company did not appear in the advertisements, the company said the ads were made simply "to help the schools through an anonymous donation."