Ad assoc mulls guidelines on ethics
The Advertising Association of Thailand's board will consider ethics in advertising related to the Raisom Company corruption scandal at its monthly meeting next week.
"This issue will be discussed in line with other key agenda items on Wednesday," Paramesh Rachjaibun, chairman emeritus of the association, told The Nation yesterday.
The outcome might be a guideline or resolution for ad-agency members to follow or an action to deal with this controversy, he said.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a letter asking for cooperation from listed companies doing business with Raisom, a firm owned by celebrity television anchor Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda. The company has been accused of fraud by the National Anti-Corruption Commission the Anti-Corruption Network.
The AAT board consists of 33 executives from leading ad agencies, namely the Leo Burnett Group, Creative Juice Worldgroup, TBWA (Thailand), Turnaround Focus, Far East DDB and Dentsu (Thailand).
Raisom, together with BEC-Tero Entertainment, a subsidiary of Bangkok Entertainment Co, the operator of ThaiTV3, produces three weekday and weekend news programmes for Channel 3 – "Ruang Lao Chao Nee", "Ruang Den Yen Nee" and "Ruang Lao Sao Athit".
Earlier, two big companies revealed that they were reviewing whether to extend contracts with Raisom to purchase airtime next year after the scandal and the SEC’s warning letter that all listed companies should work with "transparent" firms.
A source working for those companies, which were major sponsors at Channel 3, said they had also asked their agencies to study the right way to deal with the case and support spending plans for next year. The firms could not break contracts for this year but had to wait till they ended in December.
The two companies place commercials through their agencies and also BEC Tero Entertainment. The company acts on behalf of customers to purchase airtime, and Raisom was one of the targets for 2012.
