A prominent advertising leader, Khairudin Rahim, recently called for the advertising industry to be allowed to self-regulate because they know all the tricks and techniques and know what would be the best. He said this in light of recent reports of the amendment to the Consumer Protection Act 1999 a few years ago.
Serious consequences for misleading campaigns
According to the new changes, advertisers could be fined up to RM50,000 or face a jail term of 3 years for misleading advertisement. On that note, agencies would face fine of up to RM100,000 for the first offence and RM200,000 for the next.
Khairudin said that although the government meant well to be seen protecting the consumers, the industry is just too crowded with guidelines which will in turn damage the advertising business.
Efforts from all agencies required
He also called on the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority Malaysia) and the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum should publicize their activities and to let the public know what their roles are.
These bodies should have the obligation to tell the public what they have done, who they have prosecuted and the actions that have been taken against them or they would give a perception that nothing is happening among the industry.
He also criticized the announcement made by the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism that advertising agencies would be fined for misleading information in advertisements.
Why self-regulation is the way to go?
Besides that, the agencies cannot dispute the claims made by their clients as they are usually involved in designing attention-getting advertising. After all, they are supposed to do that according to what their clients want which would then beg the question of whether the agencies are liable if the claim was found later to be untrue.
The truth is, self-regulation will be the best way forward as it gives agencies more room for creativity and room to work with. There is no need to look very far. Western markets like the United States and Europe have always been advocating loose advertising guidelines.
For countries like Malaysia, the industry need not have to look that far. Neighbours like Thailand and Indonesia have already been far ahead in terms of creativity and on how they approach advertising. If Malaysia does not loosen these regulations or at least allow self-regulation for the advertisers, the industry would only far further behind.
