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13 Advertising Rules in Indonesia You Must Know

Review by : Yuli SE., MM

Advertising is the act of promoting a product to the public through printed materials or digital technology. In Indonesia, advertising have to be friendly so there are some rules to follow in order to get approval for the release of the advertisement. This article contains the 13 Advertising Rules in Indonesia. Here are some of the things that advertisers can and cannot do when they want to release an advertisement to everyone in Indonesia.

1. Advertisement for Cigarette

In the case of advertising any brands of cigarette, there must never be a shot where a person is shown to be explicitly smoking. The act of smoking the cigarette itself is banned from the advertisement. The purpose of this rule is to avoid an over exposure of smoking to young children. Moreover, the TV advertisement for cigarette is only allowed during very late night programs.

2. Advertisement for Soaps

When advertising soap products for the body, nudity is not allowed. The advertisement can show a person bathing in the soap or covered in towel. Only some parts of the body are allowed to be shown for the advertisement such as the arms or the legs. Full on nudity is unacceptable since it may cause a cancellation on the airing or the display of the advertisement to the public eye.

3. Advertisement for Sanitary Napkin

Advertisement for sanitary napkin for women are allowed in Indonesia. However, the advertisement must avoid showing any body parts of women that are inappropriate for public viewing.

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4. No Pornography Policy

Advertisement in Indonesia must never contain content that is pornographic. Most people in Indonesia are still conservative and any impression of pornographic content is disrespectful. Furthermore, pornography content is against the Social Norms in Indonesia. Other than that, there are plenty of Indonesian children who might see the advertisement. Pornographic advertisement is unsuitable for public consumption at any cost.

5. No Mocking of Ethnic Background, Culture and Religion

An advertisement must never cause an offence to someone’s ethnic background, culture and religion. Any advertisement mocking these elements is rude. Indonesia is made up of people from many different backgrounds and it would be very discriminative to single one of them out just for the sake of advertising a product. Additionally, an advertisement that is clearly discriminative can affect the Social Life in Indonesia since many people would know about it. It may cause conflict or stereotyping in the society.

6. No Plagiarising Other Advertisement

Plagiarism in any forms or ways is not permissible. Advertisement also falls under original and creative content that is authentic to the product or the company. Plagiarism is a form of stealing creative content. Thus, if any advertisement in Indonesia is found to be plagiarising from something else then the people who made it will have to face severe consequences.

7. Language Must be Polite

Throughout a TV advertisement of a product, the language used must be polite. The same also goes for printed advertisement. Polite language is considered as basic Communication Etiquette in Indonesia. Slangs are okay to use as long as they are not rude and out of context. Cursing is at all not allowed to be in advertisement. Many people from all ages will see an advertisement. Therefore, clear and polite language is used for a more professional advertisement content.

8. No Violence in Advertisement

Violence is not okay for any advertisements in Indonesia. Dangerous stunts should never get into the advertisement. Also, there should be a disclaimer saying that the act should never be done at home by the viewers.

9. Alcohol Advertisement is Not Allowed

Alcoholic drinks or products are not allowed to air an advertisement in Indonesia. Alcohol is banned from people who are under the age of 21 years old in the country. There is also a strong sentiment against the consumption of alcohol among some people in Indonesia. For some people, alcohol is equivalent to drugs. Thus, there is no advertisement for alcohol even though it might still be available for purchase.

10. Give Clear Indication of Price

If a price is listed on the advertisement of a product, then the price has to be clear. A product may have different price listing according to which region of Indonesia it is sold. So as to avoid confusion to customers, the advertisement has to put a disclaimer explaining at which region the cost could experience an increase.

11. Be Truthful to Content

An advertisement must never promote false information. It must be truthful to what is being advertised. Furthermore, the company or the people who carried out the advertisement must hold full responsibility for every claim that is involved in the advertisement. Indications of lies or scams will cause severe loss of credibility.

12. Must Not Insult Other Products

The advertisement of a product in Indonesia must never intentionally hurt competitor’s reputations. It should never contain insult or slander at another product. In Indonesia, a healthy competition among advertisers is more preferable. Also an advertisement that is clearly putting down other products is considered unprofessional.

13. Must Give Clear Information

The clear information here for some specific words or phrases used to promote the advertisement of the product. One of these phrases is satu-satunya which means ‘the only one’. The claim of being ‘the only one’ is actually not recommended for usage in any form of advertisement. However, even if an advertiser still wants to use it then they have to give thorough information for their claim. The advertisers must give reasons as to why the product is the only one that is different from other products in the market.