They’re seedy, annoying and bad for the environment, and these new signs make it clear that those that plaster cars with unwanted cards will be prosecuted…

Anyone who’s parked in Barsha Heights – aka, Tecom – regularly, will have found their car looking like this…

This car was parked in this spot for 90 minutes.

It’s annoying, bothersome and bad for the environment.

Cleaners in Barsha Heights estimate that around 50,000 cards are distributed across the suburb every day according to a report in the Khaleej Times.

“We start before 7am and most of our job is just picking up massage cards all day long,“Abdul Salaam Abdul Sathar told the daily. “We take them off from cars and from the ground. The car owners throw the cards on the ground, but we are the ones cleaning them up.”

The images on these cards are often risque and are primarily used to promote unlicensed massage parlours in the city.

The Dubai Municipality has said that the distribution of these cards is illegal and that those caught doing so will be apprehended.

And new signs that have appeared across Barsha Heights in the past week now make that very clear. It’s the latest step from the government to try and stop the nuisance:

Remember, all advertising has to be approved by the Dubai Department of Economic Development, and the fact that these cards hardly ever write a physical address for the business – usually only showing a mobile number – means they’re often not official businesses.

In a crackdown on distribution of the cards earlier this year, Dubai Municipality say they seized seven million cards (and prosecuted many distributors).

Here’s hoping these latest steps stop the issue for good…

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