Along with Vinamilk and Vingroup, numerous Vietnamese brands have stopped advertisting on the world’s largest online video site YouTube after their advertisements were linked to clips containing poor content.

In the latest move, Vietnamese dairy giant Vietnam Soya Products Company (Vinasoy) has decided to pull their advertisements from YouTube because its brand's advertisement was linked to a clip the contents of which are not suitable for children, bearing obscene and pornographic comments.

Previously, after finding that its brand was appearing on clips with improper content on YouTube, Vietjet sent a dispatch to Google reminding them that if the company cannot prevent such incidents, Vietjet will cut their telecommunications co-operation with Google.

In addition, FrieslandCampina Vietnam, the owner of the Dutch Lady brand, complained that it is unacceptable to link its brand with objectional content, seriously impacting its reputation as well as the 145-year-old brand.

Earlier in November, other brands like Lidl, Mars, Cadbury, Adidas, Deutsche Bank, and Hewlett-Packard flat out stopped advertising on YouTube after their ads were linked with clips containing poor content. Previously, other brands suspended their advertisements on YouTube after their logos or ads were showed during clips containing slanderous or anti-government content.

According to statistics from the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), as of November 2017, two million clips on YouTube had vulgar content.

The authority received official dispatches from Vietnam Airlines, Mead Johnson Nutrition Vietnam, and Vinamilk, referring to an incident when their brands appeared in clips with pornographic, slanderous or anti-government content on YouTube.

Ninh Thi Thu Huong, director of the Basic Cultural Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that enterprises’ pulling their advertisements is not enough to prevent the dissemination of clips with poor contents. The government needs to add regulations about the responses as well as appropriate penalties in the Vietnamese Penal Code.

Deputy director of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information Le Quang Tu Do said that the authority needs to remove clips with poor content from online video sites. Simultaneously, MIC needs to build channels with strickly moderated contents on YouTube.

Regarding legal firms, lawyer Vu Thai Ha, chairman of YouMe Law Company, said that in order to thoroughly resolve linking enterprises’ advertisements and clips with poor content, enterprises should continue to boycott and stop advertisements on YouTube to create pressure on online advertisement service providers to change.

VIR