PEMRA Laws for

Advertisements
Ethics and laws for Ads and PR

Group Members:
Souha Shahid (F2017077018)
Syeda Khushbakht Zehra
(F2017077017)
Rimsha Khan (F2017077053)
Aleema Dodhy (F2017077037)
Ethics and Laws for Advertisement and PR

PEMRA Laws for Advertisement

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was established under the
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (the PEMRA Ordinance), and has the
mandate to regulate the establishment and operation of all broadcast media and
distribution services, which are regulated in terms of the PEMRA Ordinance and the
rules and regulations framed thereunder (the PEMRA Laws). PEMRA regulates the
distribution of foreign and local TV and radio channels in Pakistan 
PEMRA shall have the exclusive right to issue licenses for the establishment and
operation of all broadcast media and distribution services, provided that this exclusive
right shall be used by PEMRA in conformity with the principles of fairness and equity
applied to all potential applicants for licenses, whose eligibility shall be based on
prescribed criteria notified in advance. In the case of radio, television and multichannel
multipoint distribution service (MMDS) broadcast station licenses, this shall be done
through an open, transparent bidding process if the number of applications exceeds the
number of licenses to be issued by PEMRA. No person or entity can engage in
broadcasting or CTV operation except after procuring a license issued by PEMRA. For
purposes of the foregoing: 

 ‘broadcast media’ includes such media that originate and propagate broadcast
and prerecorded signals by terrestrial means or through satellite for radio or
television and includes teleporting, provision of access to broadcast signals by
channel providers and such other forms of broadcast media as the PTA may
allow, with the approval of the federal government; and
 ‘distribution services’ includes a service that receives broadcast and prerecorded
signals from different channels and distributes them to subscribers through cable,
wireless or satellite options and includes cable TV, Local Multipoint Distribution
Service, MMDS, direct-to-home (DTH) and such other similar technologies.
 
The relevant government ministry regarding telecommunications services is the Ministry
of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage (Pakistan). 
PEMRA shall issue licenses for broadcast media and distribution services in the
following categories, namely:

 international- and national-scale stations;

 provincial-scale broadcasts;
 local area or community-based radio and TV broadcasts;
 specific and specialized subjects;
 distribution services; and
 uplinking facilities, including teleporting and digital satellite news gathering.
How is broadcast media advertising regulated? Is online advertising subject to
the same regulation?
Broadcast media advertising is also regulated by PEMRA. Advertisements broadcast or
distributed by the broadcast media or distribution service operator shall be required to
comply with the PEMRA Laws, and the provisions of the Motion Pictures Ordinance
1979, the rules and code of conduct made thereunder.
Advertisements shall also conform to the TV Code of Advertising Standards and
Practices in Pakistan and Advertisement Code issued by PEMRA. During a regular
programme a continuous break for advertising shall not exceed three minutes and the
duration between two such successive breaks shall not be less than 15 minutes. The
licensee shall maintain a record and register of the programmes being broadcast or
distributed by him or her and shall, for a period of not less than 45 days, preserve such
programmes.
Advertisements aired or distributed by a broadcast or cable TV station shall be designed
in such a manner that they conform to the laws of the country and are not offensive to
morality, decency and religious sects of the people of Pakistan.
PEMRA Laws for Advertisements:
No advertisement shall be permitted that:

 promotes or supports sedition,

anarchy or violence in country; 
 is against any provisions of the
Constitution of Pakistan or any
other law for the time being in
force; 
 tends to incite people to crime,
cause disorder or violence or
breach of law or glorifies violence or
obscenity in any way; 
 glorifies adultery, lustful passions or alcoholic drinks or the non-Islamic values; 
 distorts historical facts, traditions of Pakistan or the person or personality of a
national leader or a state dignitary; 
 fans racial, sectarian, parochial, regional or class hatred; 
 promotes social inequality or militates against concepts of human dignity and
dignity of labour; 
 is directed against sanctity or home, family and marriage; 
 is wholly or mainly of a religious or political nature; 
 contains references that are likely to lead the public to infer that the product
advertised or any of its ingredients has some special property or quality that is
incapable of being established;
 contains indecent, vulgar, or offensive themes or treatment; or 
 contains material that is repugnant to ideology of Pakistan or Islamic values. 
 
The goods or services advertised shall not suffer from any defects that are harmful to
human health. Misleading claims about the goods shall not be made. No advertisement
that is likely to be seen by children in large numbers should urge children directly to
purchase goods of a particular brand or ask their parents to do so. All advertisements
must be clearly distinguishable as such and be
separate from the programmes, and should not
in any manner take the form of news or
documentary.
The PEMRA’s code of conduct is mainly related to
deception, vulgarity/ obscenity and stereotyping.
These three areas of deception, vulgarity/
obscenity and stereotyping are defined as:

1. Deception
According to the researches employed Hyman’s
(1990) definition of the concept of deception,
which sees an advertisement as deceptive if it contains any misleading claim. For this
reason, advertisements that were hiding facts due to their layout or were using misleading
claims were considered as deceptive. The researcher used “misleading claims” and “hiding
facts” as dimensions of the concept of deception.

2. Obscenity
“Obscenity” was operationalized by the use of vulgar language, indecent dress, and/or body
posture(s)/gesture(s) which is not considered as taboo in Pakistani culture and Islam. Hence,
the construct “obscenity” is divided into, dress obscenity and postures/gestures obscenity.

3. Stereotyping
Stereotyping here means the depiction of some individual/ group/ sect/ community in the
televised advertisement in the perspective of a general, subjective and exaggerated
attitude, towards the individual/ group/community on the basis of his/ her gender or ethnic
background.

Prevalence of deception, obscenity, and stereotypes in television commercials

To Look upon to one of studies conducted recently in 2019 about the Prevalence of
deception, obscenity, and stereotypes in television commercials around 97 television
commercials were selected.

Out of which under the category of shampoos advertisements, there were 13 commercials
of Head & Shoulder, nine each of Pantene and Dove, four apiece of Sun Silk, Clear and
L’Oréal, and two of Lifebuoy. In the category of detergents, 08 ads were of Surf Excel, 06 of
Brite, 04 of Arial, and 02 of Bonus and 02 of Express Power. Amongst the 32 commercials
cell phones/ WSP 10 advertisements were of Q Mobile, 09 of Samsung, 06 of Telenor and 01
of Rivo while Nokia, Lenovo, and hair each had 02 advertisements.
 Product Deception Obscenity Stereotyping
Misleading Hiding Words Dress Gestures Gender Ethnic
claims the truth
Shampoo 45/45 42/45 Nil/45 41/45 41/45 5/45 Nil/45
Detergents 20/20 19/20 Nil/20 Nil/20 Nil/20 19/20 Nil/45
Cell 20/32 13/32 01/32 17/32 15/32 Ni/32 Nil/32
phones
Total 85/97 74/92 01/97 58/97 56/97 24/97 Nil/97
88% 76% 01% 60% 58% 25% 0%

PEMRA and New Media

After the use of PEMRA, the government has now introduced new regulations to control
social media. The federal cabinet, without a proper public debate, passed the regulations
within the existing cybercrime laws to curb digital and social media freedoms.

Imran Khan was happy when the media would talk about the irregularities of the PML-N
government. At the time, he was in favor of a free and independent media and opposed
every attempt to curb the freedom of media.

But it seems he has changed his views after taking power. We hear that Prime Minister
Imran Khan is not happy with a section of the media for publishing stories of a critical nature
about his government.

And now the government has finally decided to also regulate social media platforms. It
seems the government is following the international trend to curb online freedom; we see
that governments around the world are making it more difficult to criticize government
policies and organize resistance through social media.

Even though the stated aim of the new regulations is to regulate social media and to stop
the spread of fake news, many thinks that the real motive is to curb dissent. That is not a
good sign and will further weaken the democratic credentials of the PTI government.

We know very well that the government is not very happy with social media. Mainstream
media is already under pressure. The current government already has a poor record as far as
freedom of media and expression is concerned. Such new laws and regulations will make it
more difficult to criticize the government.

These new regulations will make it compulsory for social media giants like Facebook,
YouTube, Tik Tok, Twitter and others to register with a newly formed authority. They will
have to open offices in Pakistan within three months to continue their operations in the
country.

The law requires companies and platforms providing social media services to appoint a
representative in Pakistan who will deal with a National Coordination Authority. The
authority will be responsible for regulating such companies.
The regulation also requires social media companies to make data servers in Pakistan within
one year. The law makes it compulsory for social media companies to provide data of
accounts found guilty of targeting state institutions, spreading fake news and hate speech,
causing harassment, issuing statements that harm national security or uploading
blasphemous content.

It will be the authority's prerogative to identify objectionable content to social media

platforms for them to take down. In case the companies fail to act on directives within 15
days, the authority will have the power to suspend their services or impose a hefty fine of
up to Rs500 million.

Such powers to LEAs can be misused and opposition political parties and activists are
vulnerable to being targeted, as history shows us. The government will regret introducing
such a law when it is not in power. The PML-N government introduced many repressive
laws. But after losing power, the PML-N itself fell victim to such laws.

The main purpose of the new regulations seems to be to control and regulate digital media.
Authorities already have control over mainstream media, especially electronic media. This
law will further shrink the digital space for dissenting voices and political activists. Such laws
are a blatant attempt to curb free speech and control digital and social media.

Conclusion

As evident from the meaning laws and ethics try to promote goodwill. All media men should
refrain from causing damage to reputation of a person or an institution even in
advertisements. The issue of media ethics is too broad and no unified field on media ethics
offers rules and standards that apply to all media fields. It is the very reason why PEMRA is
carrying out its primary role effectively.

It is the very reason why PEMRA banned the Coca-Cola Ad in 2019 because they don’t
approve of Coca Cola's take on extremism. PEMRA took an instant yet EXTREME action
against the new ad from Coca Cola and banned it just a day after it aired on the television.
The media regulatory informed all Tv Channels, FM stations and others licensees to air the
commercial.

References:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0f1fdcbe-5ec6-4742-9386-62f0ca6fa976

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/414390-pemra-issues-advice-to-tv-channels-on-ads

https://grrjournal.com/jadmin/Auther/31rvIolA2LALJouq9hkR/icrgCLazc7.pdf (Page 4,5)