Advertising: Curbs Growing

The annual conference of the World Federation of Advertisers has notedgrowing restrictions on advertising, with Jiri Mikes, executive director of the Association of Advertising Agencies in the Czech Republic, criticizing restrictions on the advertising of productions such as pharmaceuticals, alcohol and tobacco.

Consumers in Eastern Europe had managed to use and abuse these products under Communist rule, when advertising was basically prohibited, he noted.

Jose Gonzales-Llorente, president of the Inter-American Society for the Freedom of Commercial Speech, said that 50% of Latin American legislatures are preparing new laws or codes to protect consumers. Brazil, Chile and El Salvador are the only Latin American countries with well-developed advertising self-regulatory systems, and while Argentina, Ecuador and Nicaragua have few curbs, lawmakers there are looking at new legislation. Countries which already have highly restricted advertising include Costa Rica and Venezuela.