Misleading advert crackdown spreads
THE National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are expanding the reach of a joint crackdown on inappropriate advertising from screens to the airwaves.
The agencies have been monitoring the advertising of products and have attracted attention by pulling scores of advertisements on TV and social media networks that they deemed to be inappropriate or were found to have made exaggerated claims about the products.
Now the agencies are extending their watch to include ads on community radio stations across the country.
NBTC commissioner Peerapong Manakit said yesterday that they were also closely examining some TV programmes that feature medical experts reviewing highlighted products and they will be on the lookout for any unfounded claims made in support of such products.
In their joint actions, the NBTC and the FDA have since May 4 removed some 97 inappropriate advertisements from digital, satellite and cable TV networks and social network channels.
Most of the ads were for health supplements and cosmetic products that carried misleading advertising claims.
From May 21 to 25, both organisations jointly suspended three offending ads on each of three digital TV channels, along with ads for 11 products on eight satellite and cable TV channels, and those on 50 Web pages.
The NBTC and FDA recently agreed to work together more closely to shorten response times and enable the faster removal of advertisements that breach broadcasting standards.
Earlier, if the NBTC found an offending advertisement, it would present the content of the ad to a subcommittee on consumer protection. If the subcommittee concluded that the content was illegal, it would forward the content to the FDA for its own examination. The process would typically take between 40 and 60 days before an illegal advertisement was finally removed from a TV or social media channel.
After the recent agreement, the FDA has sent its officials to work in the NBTC centre where media content is monitored. Once they detect an offending advertisement, they will ask the NBTC secretary general to execute an order to suspend the airing of the advertisement and, at the same time, present the case to the NBTC consumer protection subcommittee and then to the NBTC for its own examination.
