Recently we have been seeing how the advertising of something as traditional as a Maltese festa has been evolving.

The use of billboards to advertise festas is becoming common, and everyone tries to put up the best design and layout to capture an audience.

A case in point are the billboards erected on the occasion of the feast of St Dominic in Vittoriosa, the organisers of which chose a photo of Fort St Angelo, which is synonymous with Vittoriosa, as a background to a picture of the statue of St Dominic.

It has now become a tradition for these particular organisers to use images in their billboards which highlight a particular site in Vittoriosa.

It is, of course, prima facie a very good idea to emphasise the relationship that this festa has with its host city.

In view of all this I would like to draw the attention of all those who are proud citizens of Vittoriosa, and who do not like it that Vittoriosa’s name and image is used only to the advantage of one and nothing more.

I say this in view of the fact that the supporters of the feast mentioned above went around our beloved city wearing tee-shirts that had written on them “Ahjar Bormlizi milli Palmizi”, meaning that it is much better to hail from Cospicua (Vittoriosa’s neighbouring city and, to a certain extent, its rival) than to be supporters of the feast of St Lawrence (Vittoriosa’s main feast that takes place on 10 August).

I certainly do not want to argue which city is the best in the Cottonera area, because all three have their good and bad points.

However, I do not expect anyone to try to pull crowds to a festa by putting a beautiful picture of Vittoriosa in the background of a billboard and, at the same time, saying that it would be better to hail from another Cottonera city!

We, the true Vittorjosani, were always taught that no matter where you live, in Malta or abroad or even on the moon, you will remain a Vittorjosan until your last breath.

Audrey-Anne Callus Randich

Marsascala