Egypt moves to ban 'immoral' TV ads
Advertisers are trying to develop innovative commercials that grab the public’s attention without offending people — or government agencies.
The Egyptian Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) decided earlier this month to ban certain TV ads by Juhayna Dairy Products, Al-Ahram Beverages Co., and Cottonil and Dice underwear companies, saying the ads are immoral or designed to deceive children.
Some members of the advertising industry say the action isn’t warranted and is based on nebulous concepts of what “moral” means. A draft law wending its way through the legislative process could help address that objection.
Consumers complained about the ads, the CPA said in a June 11 statement on its website. The CPA said the Juhayna ads promoted false information by saying the company’s milk is better than breast milk. Also, ads by Al-Ahram, Cottonil and Dice included overt sexual references, CPA said.
Karim Imam, who directs TV ads, told Al-Monitor that the successive decisions to stop airing creative artistic content make such ads formulaic and mundane. Imam said that ads require innovative ideas that are of interest to the public, but that the agency is trying to impose moral control on society.
