Vietnam balks on advertising curbs

Vietnam balks on advertising curbs

HANOI (AP): Intense pressure from foreign investors has forced
Vietnam to retreat from a plan to cap spending on advertising by
foreign companies, state-controlled media reported yesterday.

A plan to impose new advertising limits on foreign companies
was to be unveiled this week, but has instead been shelved, the
English-language Vietnam Investment Review reported.

The Ministry of Finance was aiming to limit spending for
advertising by foreign companies to 2 percent of their total
budgets.

Pressure from foreign investors forced the ministry to
maintain the current 5 percent limit, the newspaper reported.

The plan originally had been proposed to level the playing
field between foreign and Vietnamese companies, whose advertising
budgets are more limited.