EL PAÍS: Orange to Remove Advertising Billboard Featuring Map of Morocco After Sparking Dual Territorial Controversy

 

The campaign has prompted a protest from the Polisario Front over the inclusion of Western Sahara, as well as criticism in Spain for omitting the borders of Ceuta and Melilla

Madrid – August 27, 2026

Orange Morocco, a subsidiary of the French group, has announced that it will remove in the coming days an outdoor advertising billboard installed along the AP-7 motorway, on the section between Elche and Valencia, following a bilateral controversy over the map used in the advertisement.

The billboard, aimed at motorists heading north and travelers bound for Morocco, featured a graphic representation of a map of Morocco to promote unlimited data and internet plans under the slogan:

“Explore Morocco with unlimited data, with Orange network.”

The decision to remove the billboard came after a wave of official and media criticism over its territorial implications.

On the one hand, the Polisario Front Representation in Spain filed a direct complaint with the company’s management after it was found that the map used in the advertisement incorporated Western Sahara, which is listed by the United Nations as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, into Moroccan sovereignty.

On the other hand, the billboard image sparked criticism among social media users and Spanish media outlets after it was noted that the map omitted the borders of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, portraying them as geographically contiguous with Moroccan territory.

Sources familiar with the operation confirmed to EL PAÍS/Cinco Días that the company will proceed with removing the advertisement shortly.

The same sources explained that the advertising campaign was contracted and designed directly by Orange Morocco, stressing that MasOrange in Spain, in which the Orange Group also holds a stake, had no involvement in the commercial campaign.

The Polisario Front Representation in Spain announced that it intends to monitor the effective removal of the billboard and ensure that it is actually carried out. It also called for any replacement billboard to avoid including Western Sahara as part of Morocco’s map.

The Sahrawi organization added that it would consider appropriate measures if the modification is not implemented within what it considers a reasonable period.

Meanwhile, photographs of the billboard, located near an exit leading to San Vicente, were widely circulated across online platforms.

Numerous posts by Spanish citizens and activists criticized the use of such a map on road infrastructure inside Spain, arguing that it reflected the territorial boundaries claimed by the Moroccan government in North Africa, including the two Spanish Mediterranean cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

Morocco’s claims over sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla remain a recurring source of tension in bilateral relations between Madrid and Rabat, as the two cities have the status of autonomous cities fully integrated into Spain’s constitutional system and the European Union.

At the time of the announcement regarding the billboard’s removal, the headquarters of the multinational telecommunications group issued no additional corporate statements concerning the review of its advertising content in the European market.

Source: Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS