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August 2, 2014

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‘Parking tickets’ not fine by motorists

GROANS turned to relief and then anger among city motorists who returned to their cars this week to find “parking tickets” awaiting them.

For while the tickets tucked under windshield wipers in Songjiang District resembled Shanghai parking fines, they were in fact flyers for a furniture show, Youth Daily reported yesterday.

The crafty promotional item is the same size and shade of yellow as a genuine parking ticket, complete with apparent details — including car color, car plate number and a stamp.

“It looks very like a real parking ticket from a distance,” said a driver surnamed Song, who found one stuck on his windshield at Xinsongjiang Road this week.

But at a second glance, Song saw that the ticket was in fact congratulating him on “cool parking,” the report said.

The ticket said as the car owner was so passionate about life and parked so well, they were invited to a furniture exhibition on August 9.

Perhaps mindful that some drivers might not be impressed by the little joke, the flyer also contained a note at the bottom saying that keeping a sense of humor makes a person more attractive.

Song, however, was unswayed by this argument.

“I don’t think it’s humorous at all,” he said.

Other car owners said the leaflets were annoying but that it was easy to see through the  promotional trick.

A security guard said he saw someone leafleting every car parked on the street.

Similar marketing has also been reported in other cities such as Nanjing in neighboring Jiangsu Province, and Foshan in the southern province of Guangdong, the report said.

“The design and humorous slogan gets people to read the flyers,” a Shanghai advertising worker surnamed Zhu was quoted as saying.

“But at the same time, some people might feel annoyed or angry because they were worried at first.”

As the leaflets don’t contain forged official police seals, whoever made them can’t be detained for any crimes, according to Shanghai lawyer Fang Zhengyu.

However, under local regulations, anyone organizing the distribution of promotional products on main roads faces a fine of more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,618).




 

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