Traffic signs related to Son Hai Group on the National Assembly's discussion table

Is Son Hai Group's installation of some traffic signs with the content '10-year warranty on Son Hai road' considered advertising?

Delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Binh) - Photo: GIA HAN

On the afternoon of November 25, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the bill amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising (amended).

Delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Binh province delegation) raised the issue that the 2012 Advertising Law stipulates that advertising is the use of means to introduce to the public products, goods, and services with profit-making purposes; products and services without profit-making purposes; organizations and individuals trading in introduced products, goods, and services, except for news; social policies; and personal information.

According to Ms. Tam, this concept is still very general, difficult to distinguish and apply in practice. Currently, there are many inconsistent opinions in understanding when a situation arises "this content is advertising or not advertising".

The female delegate cited: "Recently, on the Nghi Son - Dien Chau expressway, Son Hai Group installed a number of traffic signs with the content "Entering Son Hai road, 10-year warranty", which were later removed because of regulations on road warranty".

"Regarding this, public opinion raises the question of whether the above content is considered advertising or not. Therefore, we suggest that the drafting agency study this content to add to the draft law, ensuring its suitability to practice and consistency in application," Ms. Tam stated.

Also in the discussion, delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap province delegation) raised the issue: "A popular advertising method is to post advertisements on electric poles, which are everywhere, so there needs to be clear and specific regulations."

Mr. Hoa argued: "Advertising on electric poles is fine, it doesn't affect national affairs. If people ask for permission and get permission, then it's fine, there's no reason to not allow advertising on electric poles. But now we ban it but can't manage it, it's very difficult."

Regulations limiting the percentage of advertising space in newspapers should be abolished.

Many delegates were also concerned about the issue of advertising in newspapers. Delegate Pham Van Hoa said that currently the advertising market share in print newspapers has decreased sharply, adjusting the advertising space in print newspapers will fundamentally solve the difficulties for press agencies in practicing financial autonomy.

Therefore, he proposed to study the option of removing regulations limiting the advertising area ratio in traditional newspapers and magazines so that press agencies can decide on advertising area according to readers' needs and market demand.

Regarding advertising on radio and television, delegate Pham Van Hoa said that this is a very necessary issue that we should pay attention to, suggesting assessing the impact of policies to increase persuasiveness so that advertising on television increases by 5-10%, and at the same time, considering the appropriate time to advertise.

Debate on advertising space in print newspapers, delegate Do Chi Nghia (Phu Yen delegation) said that the delegates' opinions all stated that expanding advertising space in print newspapers would help press agencies better implement the financial autonomy mechanism and better their operations.

However, the reality is that press agencies are facing difficulties not because of a lack of advertising space, but because of a lack of advertising.

Businesses and advertisers have many other advertising methods that are more effective than print.

The market can fluctuate, so Mr. Nghia supports the method of giving press agencies autonomy over advertising space and agrees with delegate Pham Van Hoa.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bien-giao-thong-lien-quan-tap-doan-son-hai-len-ban-thao-luan-cua-quoc-hoi-2024112516234336.htm