Thai cabinet approves draft of ministerial rules on alcohol advertising
The cabinet on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, approved a draft of ministrial regulation which would allow logos of alcoholic beverages to appear on television commercials for no more than two seconds and limit the logo sizes in the print media to 5% of the total space of the ads.
The regulations were issued in accordance to Alcohol Beverages Control Act B.E.2551, prohibiting a presence of alcoholic product’s images in any advertisement.
Deputy Government Spokesman Watchara Kannikar said, "The new draft of ministrial regulation gives clearer information concerning advertising airtimes, contents and logo definitions."
The new draft regulations for alcohol advertisement by the Public Health Ministry covers:
1. The advertisement content guidelines which must convey useful messages promoting
social values, sound knowledge or cultural enhancement.
2. The ban of showing alcoholic beverages and the packaging.
3. The exhibition of alcoholic beverage logos and its corporate or manufacturer’s logo are
allowed.
4. For print media, the sizes of such logos must not exceed 5% of the total advertisement
space. The ads are banned on the front and the back pages, center folds and
wrap-around. The logos must be printed along with warning messages of alcohol
consumption.
5. For video commercials, the size of the logos must not exceed 5% of the total advertising
space. The presentation must not continue for more than 5% of the total commercial
time or a maximum of two seconds. The logos could only be aired only between 10 pm
to 5 am and at the end of the commercial.
Mr. Watchara said the cabinet passed the draft regulations to the Council of State for scrutiny, after which they would be returned to the cabinet for final approval.
For more information on the current alcohol control laws, please visit the Publication section.
Sources: Bangkokpost and The Nation