Advertising Policies

I. POLICY

This policy of the Charleston County Aviation Authority (the “Authority”) provides advertising and signage criteria for the Charleston International Airport (the “Airport”). This policy is not intended to limit the activities of the Advertising Sales Manager or his/her designee to inform the public, promote Airport facilities, services, or otherwise market the Airport. Any revisions or changes to this policy must be approved by the Executive Director or his/her designee.

APPLICABILITY

This Policy applies to all permitted advertising in the publicly- accessible areas of the interior of the terminal building of the Airport and assigned tenant spaces situated therein. It does not include outdoor advertising on Airport property, which is exclusively reserved to Authority-sponsored advertising.

II. PURPOSE

The Authority is periodically approached by entities seeking to advertise on airport property and has therefore developed this policy to limit or restrict certain types of advertisements or advertisement content that may interfere with the Authority’s primary purpose of generating revenue. This policy advances the Authority’s advertising program’s revenue-generating objective by prohibiting advertisements of the type or content that could detract from that goal by creating controversy, interfering with and diverting resources from Airport operations, and/or posing risk of harm, inconvenience, or annoyance to the traveling public.

III. GENERAL RULES

Signs and other advertisements on Airport property must meet the following general rules:

• Advertisements in public areas are the responsibility of the Airport. Advertisements in leased areas are the responsibility of the tenant but those advertisements must comply with this policy.
• No advertisements may be placed on exterior doors or windows except those required to meet safety standards.
• No advertisements may be placed on the roof of any building or on any structure atop a building.
• All advertisements must meet and comply with all applicable safety standards.

II. PERMITTED TYPES OF ADVERTISING

The permitted subject matter of the advertisement shall be limited to speech which is within one or more of the following permissible areas:

• Proposes a commercial transaction;
• Proposes the patronage of a commercial business;
• Promotes a particular industry;
• Promotes tourism; or
• Promotes economic development.

VI. ADVERTISING CONTENT RESTRICTIONS

The advertising kinds and/or characteristics that shall not be permitted include but are not limited to:

• Advertising that depicts graphic violence or images of violence or gore, including images of firearms or weapons;
• Advertising that promotes hatred, bigotry, violence or intolerance;
• Advertising containing sexually oriented material, images of nudity, or sexually prurient or obscene material;
• Advertising that contains or implies profane or vulgar language or material;
• Advertising that promotes adult oriented products, businesses or services, such as “X” or “NC17” rated films, adult video games rated “A” or “M”, television rated “MA”, adult book stores, adult video stores, nude or partial nudity dance clubs, adult telephone services, adult internet sites, and escort services;
• Advertising of contraceptives or medications and treatments to enhance sexual function and performance;
• Advertising of tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes, or similar products (including marijuana, even if its sale or use were to be permitted legally by the State of South Carolina for any purpose);
• Advertising that promotes the existence or nonexistence of a supreme deity(ies), that addresses or promotes a specific religion, religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs or is otherwise religious in nature;
• Advertising that is political in nature or contains political messages, including advertising that (i) refers to a specific ballot question, initiative, petition, or referendum, (ii) refers to a political party, or (iii) refers to a candidate for public office;
• Advertising that disparages, ridicules, is abusive or hostile to, debases the dignity or stature or in any way reflects negatively on the character, integrity or standing of, an individual, entity, group or organization;
• Advertising that advocates or is likely to induce unlawful or illegal action, including but not limited to any unlawful or illegal action based on a person’s race, color, age, gender;
• Advertising that promotes unlawful or illegal goods, services or activities, or is illegal under applicable law;
• Advertising that is false, deceptive or misleading in any way;
• Advertising that is libelous, infringes on a copyright or is otherwise likely to subject the Authority to litigation;
• Advertising of goods or services that are in competition with those offered within the Airport, and could reduce the Authority’s revenue and its ability to be financially self-sustaining, or that could reduce travel and tourism in the greater Charleston area and
  Advertising that directs viewers or callers, such as via a website, app, or telephone number, to materials that violate the preceding restrictions;
• Advertising information that implies or declares and endorsement by the Authority of any service, product or point of view without prior written authorization of the Authority;
• Advertising that contains an image of a person who appears to be a minor, in sexually suggestive dress, pose, or context;
• Other advertising content or presentation that, in the sole judgement of the Executive Director, is offensive or inappropriate for display in the terminal building.

VII. ADVERTISING LOCATION RESTRICTIONS

The Authority reserves the sole right to establish the locations that are made available in its adverting program and to change such locations from time to time.

VIII. USE OF UNSOLD SPACE

In the event the Authority does not have a contract in place for use of designated adverting space, then such space may, at the sole discretion of the Aviation Authority, be made available for Community Promotion Advertising or Aviation-related Governmental Advertising. In addition, the Authority may elect to use any unsold space to:

• Promote Airport parking products and services, such as Valet Parking
• Promote use of concessions in general, Wi-Fi, websites, apps and other amenities offered within the Airport;
• Promote awareness for the breadth of the Airport’s air service network and improvements to terminal or other facilities and
  Market other airport-related products and services, as determined from time to time by the Executive Director or his/her designee;
• Advertise or promote other airport or aviation-related matters at the sole discretion of the Executive Director or his/her designee.

IX. APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESS

All proposed advertising must be submitted in writing to the Authority’s Advertising Sales Manager. The advertising proposal must include the name of the advertiser, creative file, and the desired format of the presentation (static copy, digital video or other specified media format). The Advertising Sales Manager shall review the creative file for compliance with this Policy and determine if there are any changes required to bring the proposed advertisement into compliance with the Policy.

If there are no changes required, or the advertiser makes the required changes to the advertisement content or presentation, the Advertisement will be accepted for display.

If the Advertising Sales Manager finds that the proposed advertisement is not in compliance with this policy, he/she will notify the advertiser in writing that the proposed advertisement will not be accepted and cite the reason(s) therefor. The decision of the Advertising Sales Manager may be appealed, in writing, to the Deputy Director & CFO of the Authority, whose formal determination shall be final.

X. INDEMNITY

Advertisers and their agencies will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Authority, its officers and agents, against all expenses and losses resulting from the publication of the contents of the advertisement, including claims for libel, violation of privacy, copyright infringement, or plagiarism.

Neither the Authority’s name, logo, and designations, nor testimonials by current Airport employees, may be used in advertisements to endorse non-Airport products or services, unless the Authority’s Advertising Sales Manager, or his/her designee, has specifically contracted with a particular advertiser to promote or endorse a product or service apart from the purposes of the Authority’s advertising program.