How low can advertisements go?

There is little doubt that Indonesia's advertising industry has started to pick up after the mid-1997 economic crisis. But with more money up for grabs, combined with public calls for greater freedom of expression, companies, advertising agencies and the media are now more willing to stretch the levels of acceptability, often leading to obscene, misleading and unlawful ads. The Jakarta Post's K. Basrie has the following report.

JAKARTA (JP): Companies, advertising agencies and the media are obviously familiar with the laws and code of ethics governing advertising. They are also aware of the punishments incurred for violating these regulations.

However, they also know how to play the game, exploiting legal loopholes and the attitude of a society that is quick to forgive and forget.

"We have adequate regulations and laws to punish and jail any practitioners who break the rules. The problem is the government is not serious about taking strict measures against violators. The supremacy of the law here is still lacking," RTS Masli, the acting chairman of the Indonesian Advertising Commission (KPI), the ranking advertising-related association, told The Jakarta Post.

Interviewed separately, Sutedjo Hadiwasito, the head of the law and constitution department at the Indonesian Advertising Agencies Association (PPPI), a member of KPI, said most unethical or unlawful ads were carefully designed to take advantage of the public's lack of awareness of advertising regulations.

"We call it a professional violation," Sutedjo said.

Advertising is controlled by a number of regulations and laws, including Law No. 8/1999 on consumer protection, Law No. 23 on health, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, press laws and Government Regulation No. 81/1999 and Government Act No. 38/2000, both dealing with the control of cigarettes.

"Violators can actually be imprisoned," said Masli, who is also the chairman of PPPI.

So far, he added, no one has ever been sent to prison for violating these advertising laws and regulations.

The advertising industry -- through associations such as PPPI -- also imposes its own internal code of ethics on members. Here, the harshest punishment is the loss of association membership.

"That could mean the loss of business and professional relationships," Masli said.

In many cases involving unethical advertisements, the companies whose products are involved simply ask for forgiveness from the public, gradually remove their products from the shelves, put a temporary stop to all advertisements and promise not to make the same mistake again.

But in some cases, marketing people in the media refuse to stop running the advertisements, saying they have a contractual agreement.

"We all have a social responsibility to the public (that we must accept). Otherwise, we wouldn't survive," Masli said.

How low can they go?

Over the past few years, particularly during the monetary crisis, the public were subjected to numerous cheap, unethical and vulgar ads.

Many blame this on a combination of factors present in the country. While numerous companies and media outlets are suffering financially, the number of media outlets has actually risen, while there is an eager public ecstatic with the new-found freedom of expression introduced by president B.J. Habibie.

With companies, advertising agencies and media outlets all scratching for survival, self-censorship and any responsibility to the public have largely been brushed aside.

Critics contend that many advertisements in newspapers and magazines, on TV and the radio, and on billboards across the country have dropped all pretense of communicating to the public, and instead have been marketing products by playing on human emotions and employing techniques of clever persuasion.

They say these ads are essentially concerned with glorifying the materialistic virtues of consumption by manipulating the truth of products, exploiting human anxieties, resorting to pornography, eliminating objective considerations and reducing men, women and children to the role of irrational consumer.

While critics may overstate their case, many of their concerns are well-founded, particularly outside of Jakarta where public concern about such manipulation, legally termed fraud, is still limited.

Violators

A number of products have been placed under the spotlight during the past year for their advertisements.

Surveys conducted by several parties, including the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and AC Nielsen, identified companies manufacturing baby food, medicine, cigarettes, alcoholic and energy drinks, and beauty products like shampoo, cosmetics and soap as regular violators in advertising their products.

One of the latest controversies involved advertisements for GIV soap featuring a semi-naked Sophia Latjuba. Like the posters found at bus stops and pasted to walls in the city, a GIV billboard on Jl. Warung Buncit Raya in South Jakarta was painted over by unidentified parties.

And painted on the billboard, which has the slogan "GIV, she knows when to pamper herself", were the messages: "Stop pornography" and "Be polite in advertising!"

And then there is the case of Irex, a type of energy drink, whose commercials were withdrawn from several TV stations following numerous public complaints. This case reflects what many critics see as the overwhelmingly unethical behavior of companies and the advertising industry.

In the commercial, a woman wearing a miniskirt is seen leaving a room followed by a man, played by sports presenter Ari Sudarsono, who looks tired, is sweating and has tousled hair. The woman smiles and rearranges her disordered skirt. In the outer office are more women waiting for an interview.

The man then says, "Wah, bakalan lembur nih" (Wow, overtime!).

Then two other women, who appear to be twins, enter the room followed by the man, who places a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the handle. And then the slogan is given: "Siap lembur pantang mundur" (Ready to work overtime, no problem!).

Thousands of complaints were delivered to TV stations and newspapers, saying that the ad objectified and debased women.

Who is responsible?

The law on consumer protection states that those responsible for advertisements and their impact on the public are the companies whose products are being advertised, the advertising agencies and the media where the ads appear.

Several months ago, TV commercials first appeared for a new type of instant noodle targeted at women. The commercials for Cinta-mi, the name of the product, claim the noodles contain skin-softening Vitamin E.

The question is, does the small amount of Vitamin E in the noodles have the power to replenish skin?

And earlier this year, ads for a cigarette brand produced by a leading cigarette manufacturer were banned following a protest from the industry and the public about a cigarette visibly displayed on the billboards and in the posters, which is prohibited.

The manufacturer acknowledged its error and said it spent more than Rp 1 billion (US$117,000) to remove the offending advertisements.

But how could such a serious and obvious mistake have been made in the first place by a company who has been an industry leader for years?

Neither of the companies involved in these two examples could be reached for comment.

This year, advertising expenditures are expected to reach Rp 9.72 trillion, a significant increase from the Rp 7.89 trillion spent on advertising last year and the Rp 5.61 trillion spent in 1999.

"As usual, most of the pie -- about 60 percent -- will go to TV," Masli said.

Some 29 percent of this advertising money will go to newspapers, 6 percent to magazines and tabloids, 3 percent to radio and 2 percent to outdoor advertising.

This increase in advertising expenditure reflects the tougher competition in the manufacturing sector. With so much money up for grabs it would not be surprising if we continue to see violations of the regulations governing advertising.

"Unfortunately, there still hasn't been any particular incident that would force people in the industry to learn a lesson and change. Many people are still making use of the loopholes available to them. They are still involved in creative theft."