VietNamNet Bridge – About 70 percent of advertising firms in HCM City are expected to shut down in 2015 if current regulations are not amended.

Three months ago, the HCM City People’s Committee released Instruction No 25 stipulating that businesses’ signboards must not include their logos and brands of products.

The director of an ad firm, calling the regulation “absurd”, said that if the regulation is not removed, the majority of ad firms in the city would “die” by 2015.

“Most of the signboards comprise logos and products’ brands, because this is a favorite way for enterprises to advertise their products,” he said. “For example, the signboard of a restaurant may have the logo of one beer brand, while the signboard of a grocery may show the logos of coffee and instant noodle brands.”

With the new instruction, the signboards placed over street facing houses will be fined VND10-15 million, if violating Instruction No 25.

If ad firms delay in removing expired billboards, they will be fined VND10 million. Meanwhile, city authorities have stopped granting extensions to ad firms.

“The fine is VND10 million at minimum for every billboard violating the regulation. This means that you will pay a fine of VND150 million for 10 billboards. The heavy fine and the high risk have made ad firms shrink back,” he commented.

At a recent meeting with a representative from the HCM City Culture & Sports Department, the 100 ad firms in the city were told that they still need to wait for the outdoor ad development program to be approved.

The billboards approved by the watchdog agency prior to September 16 (the day when Instruction No 25 was released) can exist until the time stated in the license.

The extensions granted to billboards will be no longer than six months, until the HCM City People’s Committee approves the outdoor ad development program.

Ad firms immediately disagreed with this instruction. The HCM City Ad Association sent a dispatch to city authorities, asking them to reconsider the instruction, including the provisions which are not in line with the Advertisement Law and the conditions of HCM City.

Do Kim Dung, deputy chair of the HCM City Ad Association, said the Advertisement Law does not prohibit ads on signboards.

Meanwhile, Pham Ngoc Hung, deputy chair of the association, said many advertising firms were upset because their business has slowed down while waiting for the new outdoor ad development program to be released.

Thanh Lich