Advertising sector needs more supervision, says Abdullah

ABU DHABI // The advertising industry needs greater regulation to prevent fraud, Sheikh Abdullah, head of the National Media Council (NMC) and the Foreign Minister, has agreed.

At a session of the FNC, Sheikh Abdullah heard from Ali Al Nuaimi (Ajman), who complained that adverts in newspapers and on websites were being used by fraudsters to sell faulty products and carry out scams and in some cases by sexual predators seeking victims.

Sheikh Abdullah cautioned that the size of the industry made the problem complex, but agreed that laws surrounding advertising should be developed.

"No doubt the advertising sector is complicated, in any country, particularly with the presence of new media," Sheikh Abdullah said. "This sector saw a lot of development in the past few years in the UAE."

He said the UAE had become the biggest advertising market in the region due to the ease of reaching target audiences, but added: "I think there is agreement from the government and the council in the need to revisit the law."

Laws introduced in 2005 by the National Media Council set conditions for media outlets to follow when accepting advertising.

But Mr Al Nuaimi said not all media outlets abided by those rules and argued that a law was needed to govern all print and electronic adverts. "Studies show criminals and offenders use advertisements for their crimes by targeting audience groups."

He said one police case involved a woman who was sexually abused after answering an advert placed in a media outlet.

"Some products being sold have been found to be stolen, one advertisement was to sell a building unit that did not exist and with an imaginary contractor," he added.

Sheikh Abdullah asked if the media outlets in these examples were licensed or not, and Mr Al Nuaimi replied that they were.

In that case, said Sheikh Abdullah, such abuses were covered by existing regulations. He pointed out that in the examples mentioned, police were able to follow up and treat the abuses as criminal offences.

However, he agreed that more supervision was necessary. "The NMC welcomes any recommendations to develop [regulations] further," he said.

Mr Al Nuaimi requested urgent action, saying the matter was giving the UAE a "bag image".

osalem@thenational.ae