LEGAL REGULATION OF ADVERTISING IN MALAYSIA AND LITHUANIA

Abstract

The relevance of this study Advertisement is a form of communication that is easy to be absorbed by consumers. Businesses use various marketing strategies to capture the attention of the prospective consumers to promote, to introduce and to attract consumers to buy their products. Conventional advertisement through print media, television and radio which the sources of advertisement mainly come from news, journalism and entertainment content has significant change due to the growing of online advertising. Despite various laws and regulations governing advertising in Malaysia, the challenges on online advertising remain problematic. Malaysia Advertisers Association raises their concern on digital advertising fraud and it is expected to remains an issue globally in the foreseeable future. Advertising market is a huge market worldwide with vast expenditure spends on advertising strategies. According to Guttmann from Statista (Guttmann, 2021), despite the challenges on Covid-19 pandemic which affected many industries, advertisement spending worldwide has been increasing steadily. It is expected to surpass 630 billion U. S. dollars in 2024. The forms of advertisement include television and radio, print media, digital and mobile advertising. In Malaysia, the total investment in advertising expenditure in 2019 was approximately 4.4 billion Malaysian ringgit. Regarding advertising and the problems of its legal regulation in Lithuania, it should be noted that trademarks play such an important role that there are almost no goods that are not marked with trademarks (Duguid, P., 2016). In the current market of goods and services, in the presence of huge competition, with the increase in the scale of international trade, the goods of manufacturers are increasingly distinguished by their own brand. The main problems identified in the research paper: effectiveness of establishment of centralised management; direct liability of a parent company; exit and buy-out rights of minority shareholders. Problems in Lithuania also arise that when promoting a product, several or even dozens of different products may be offered to the user under the same sign, without the need to re-introduce each one, which may confuse the user. The research paper undertakes following tasks: 1) to analyse laws and regulations governing advertisement in Malaysia and Lithuania; 2) to examine the Malaysian communications and multimedia content code; 3) to reveal misleading and deceptive conduct, false representation and unfair practice under the consumer protection act; 4) to disclose rising issues of targeted advertisement and advertising by influencer; 5) to compare results of previous tasks with Lithuanian law. The research paper concludes that offence contravenes any of the provisions of sections 3, 4, 4A and 4B of the Act. For first conviction, a fine not exceeding RM 3.000 or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one year or to both may be imposed. In the case of a subsequent conviction, a fine not exceeding RM 5.000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both may be imposed. This strategy often very efficient and effective, however, it is more destructive than any other advertising. Targeted advertising often led to proliferation of fake news and clickbait. It facilitates data-mining and compromise personal data protection. Vulnerability of consumers increase with the challenges of targeted advertising. In the Republic of Lithuania it is prohibited to use advertising material that has been prepared in violation of copyrights to literary, artistic, scientific works and/or related rights. The novelty conventional advertisement through print media, television and radio which the sources of advertisement mainly come from news, journalism and entertainment content has significant change due to the growing of online advertising. The methodology used will be that of legal doctrinal research, legal theory method, the reform agenda research and comparative analysis.