Chinese car brand has no idea how it ended up on illegal billboards in Johannesburg

The Chery Group does not know how its car brands have ended up on illegally placed outdoor advertisements around Gauteng.

Since the start of 2026, the City of Johannesburg has been cracking down on adverts that were erected without approval and violate local outdoor advertising by-laws and safety compliance regulations.

This had resulted in public takedowns where City officials have dismantled unlawful banners and billboards across the metro.

Several high-profile companies have been featured on these ads, including Engen, WeBuyCars, Dis-Chem, Absa, MTN, Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Rocomamas.

Even political parties have been caught in the crossfire, as the City recently took down illegal Democratic Alliance and ActionSA billboards.

The companies and organisations seen in these ads are often named and shamed in social media campaigns published by the City of Johannesburg, the Johannesburg Property Company, and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department.

However, in most of these cases, the companies are not aware of the unlawful ads until they are informed that the billboards have been torn down.

TopAuto contacted the Chery Group for comment to learn more about how these ads are erected featuring companies that are not aware of their existence.

Chery and its sub-brand are two of the car brands that have appeared on these outdoor banners, but they are by no means the only ones. Other automakers that have featured on illegal ads include Jeep, Changan, GWM, and Geely.

We asked Chery whether the company erects these ads themselves, or if it outsources its promotion campaigns to external advertising agencies.

Chery SA national marketing manager Verene Petersen responded, stating that media buying is an outsourced function across all brands in the Chery Group.

This includes Chery, as well as Omoda, Jaecoo, Jetour, Lepas, and iCAUR, which are all sub-brands that launched in South Africa in the last three years.

We also asked whether the automaker conducts checks to verify whether the advertising companies are legitimate.

Petersen said that there are no checks in place, and that the onus falls on their supplier to partner with credible media owners as they are the ones who enter into contracts.

She added that the Chery Group is not aware of when or where these illegal adverts are constructed and that, to date, the company has only found out once the ads are publicly removed by the City of Johannesburg.

Chery also does not conduct its own investigations to find any unapproved adverts featuring its car brands around the metro.

Earlier this month, Johannesburg Property Company CEO Musah Makhunga said that the City’s aggressive takedown strategy has proven to be very effective, raising compliance with advertising by-laws.

He said the City’s outdoor advertising revenue had grown from R4 million to R100 million since it started tearing down unlawful banners.

“This demonstrates that there was significant revenue leakage within the outdoor advertising portfolio, money that rightfully belongs to the city.”

He explained that they have met with several media owners who have come forward to declare their structures and begin settling outstanding payments.

“They are also committing to comply with municipal by-laws when erecting outdoor advertising billboards,” said Makhunga.

He added that the City will continue to go after these companies to ensure that all billboards and banners comply with municipal regulations.