Authorities fail to take action against ad law violators
Authorities fail to take action against ad law violators
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Slimming product advertisements that have been bombarding
people, especially women, have turned out to provide misleading
information.
Many of these products do not include sufficient information
to warn consumers properly of the possible side effects of
substances they contain.
The survey by the Indonesian Consumers Empowerment Foundation
-- in which respondents included 500 consumers, 20 drug stores
and 20 pharmacies -- found 20 products that misled consumers and
the foundation also received around 50 complaints related to the
products in January alone. No action has yet been taken by the
authorities.
The Association of Indonesian Advertising Agencies (PPPI),
overseeing some 230 agencies operating in the country, could only
point to the weak law enforcement agencies responding to the
above issues.
"Frankly speaking, there have been many violations against the
code of ethics and professional law in the advertising business.
So far, the violators have remained free from either punishment
or sanctions," PPPI chairman R.T.S. Masli told The Jakarta Post
on Saturday.
"The regulations and code of ethics are clear and sufficient.
They are supposed to be able to protect consumers."
Masli said the law enforcers, both the Food and Drug Control
Agency (BPOM) and the police, had shown a serious lack of action
in upholding the existing law and code of conduct.
Law No. 8/1999 on consumer protection states, in Article 8,
paragraph 1.f., that a producer is banned from producing or
selling objects or services that are not in accordance with the
promise mentioned on the label, information, advertisements or
promotions.
Even though there have been fatalities, believed to have
occurred after suffering illnesses caused by slimming products,
many people have not reported it to the police, even though the
law stipulates a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment or
compensation payments of up to Rp 2 billion (US$196,080) for the
producers.
The self-regulatory system, which leaves monitoring to each ad
agency, may not be effective in reducing consumers' psychological
attachment to certain products but the media, both electronic and
printed, are also responsible for circulating the commercials.
Spokesperson of private TV 7 television channel Uni Zulfiani
Lubis admitted it would be difficult to deal with commercials --
which later fell short of the promise in their ads -- if they had
passed BPOM's monitoring.
"Should BPOM order us to recall already-aired commercials, we
would do it," she said.
Questions remain on how BPOM could issue controversial
approvals for products that have provided misleading information
to the public. But BPOM head Sampurno could not be reached for
comment.
As the arguments for and against slimming products continue,
their sales are still going well in markets throughout the city.
Hariadi, a drug store owner at Jatinegara market in East
Jakarta, said the slimming products were among the top sellers in
his store.
"We sell an average of seven packets of slimming product every
day," he said.
So far, none of his customers has complained to him about the
side effects of the slimming products he has sold.
Hariadi, himself a consumer of a slimming product, said he had
been using the product regularly without any noticeable ailment.
"I assume, with so many consumers, there are bound to be a few
complaints."
A vendor of traditional herbal medicines at Pramuka market in
Central Jakarta, known as a black market for donated medicines
from Japan and the Philippines, revealed he could sell more than
20 dozen slimming herbs every day.
"I no longer have any stocks as they are sold out. Perhaps the
new stock will arrive on Monday," the vendor, Riyan, said.