Posters of JCDecaux appeared all over Paris last week. Some saw it as a response to the intention of the City of Paris to ‘declutter public space’ But the French industrial group says it could be a simple coincidence.

“The project precedes all debates on the subject, we have been thinking about it for more than a year,” says Albert Asseraf, general director of communications for the company. The municipality only targets urban information furniture (MUI) and wild posters.