Ads agencies lack moral principles: House
Ads agencies lack moral principles: House
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the House of Representatives have
charged advertising executives in Indonesia as lacking in moral
principles.
Sophan Sophiaan, who led the charge during a hearing yesterday
with the Indonesian Association of Advertising Agencies, picked
the Wrangler jeans television commercial to underline his point
that advertising agencies are violating society's moral codes.
Sophan said the ad, in which a young woman takes off her jeans
to extinguish a fire, "does not fit with the Indonesian culture".
The House Commission I for information and culture held a
hearing with the top advertising executives, an event long
awaited by the public because of the mounting complaints about
some of the advertisements that have been appearing on television
and in newspapers.
Sophan, a film producer, took particular offense to the
Soundmax commercial, which suggests that the Soundmax television
set has the quality of rock music, but affordable price of
kroncong (traditional Indonesian music).
Sophan said the advertisement implies that kroncong is cheap.
Marwah Daud Ibrahim, a mass communication expert, said the
impact of television commercials on viewers is greater than
television programs because they are repeated over and over.
"Children will likely keep ad jingles and pictures in their
memory," she said. "The cultural challenge of advertisements is
even greater than other television programs, because it controls
the human mind-set, so that the social accountability of
advertisement producers is very big."
Marwah said advertisements should not be allowed to appear too
frequently.
"In some countries, a television advertisement cannot appear
more than once in 30 minutes. Here, the same advertisement can
appear five to six times in that period," she said.
Koes Pudjianto, chairman of the advertising association, found
the House's accusations somewhat unfair. "We tend to look only at
the negative aspects of advertisement. Actually the positive ones
abound," he said.
Fachry Mohammad, another association executive, supported
Koes' assertion, citing the various public service advertisements
put out in the media, such as the government's salt ionization
campaign, polio immunization program, public health, safe sex,
family planning, anti-AIDS drive and traffic discipline.
Koes proposed that the number of these kind of advertisements
be increased.
He suggested a regulation which would compel all advertisement
agencies to join the association to ensure better supervision.
In addition, any new advertising agencies must obtain the
recommendation of the association before obtaining the
government's operating license, he added. (16)