Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism responds to the case of people wearing military uniforms and artists advertising falsely

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just responded regarding the handling of advertising activities for medicines and functional foods using images of individuals wearing uniforms of armed forces, security forces, veterans... causing misunderstandings for consumers.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism received a petition from voters in Tay Ninh province to strictly handle acts of advertising drugs and functional foods using personal images of individuals wearing armed forces, security forces, and veterans' uniforms on social networking sites to create trust and mislead consumers.

Regarding this issue, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that in recent times, he has focused on implementing many solutions, strengthening inspection, supervision and promptly handling cases of taking advantage of social networks to advertise untruthfully.

MC Quang Minh was once involved in a milk advertising scandal.

Photo: TL

In particular, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism advised the Government to submit to the National Assembly for approval the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Advertising Law in 2025. Accordingly, Article 15a is added after Article 15 of the Advertising Law in 2012 on the rights and obligations of the person transmitting advertising products:

Advertising activities on the Internet have been specifically regulated, with regulations on signs to identify online advertising activities; responsibilities of entities participating in online advertising activities; requirements for solutions to check and monitor advertising content; specific regulations on the rights and responsibilities of those who transmit advertising products.

Additional requirements for advertising content such as advertising content must be honest, accurate, clear; not misleading about the features, quality, uses, effects of products, goods, services. In case the advertisement requires notes, recommendations, warnings, it must be clearly, completely, and easily accessible.

The Ministry has issued official dispatches to Vietnam Television (VTV), Voice of Vietnam (VOV), Radio - Television, Newspapers and Radio - Television Stations of provinces and centrally run cities, television and social network units in the country, requesting strict compliance with legal regulations in advertising activities and strengthening management, supervision and rectification of advertising activities of medicines, milk and health protection foods.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued official dispatches to press agencies, television units, domestic and foreign social networks, general electronic information sites... to request strict compliance with legal regulations in advertising activities and to strengthen management, supervision and rectification of advertising activities for medicines, milk and health protection foods.

Thanh Van Hugo once apologized for the milk advertisement.

Photo: TL/ Screenshot

Additional sanctions for violating advertisers

In recent times, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has implemented an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism focusing on reviewing and handling cases of celebrities, artists, and influencers on advertising networks, participating in advertising products that do not match the product quality, affecting people's trust and health.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinates with relevant ministries and sectors to research and supplement regulations and sanctions for violations to ensure deterrence and strictness of the law against cases where people who transmit advertising products violate the law. For online advertisements, especially on cross-border advertising platforms, where it is difficult to identify the identity of the advertiser, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requires cross-border platforms to proactively scan to prevent violating content and accounts.

In addition, the Ministry's leaders said that they have increased training and legal dissemination for artists and KOLs, especially legal regulations on providing online content, advertising, and tax payment. At the same time, the Ministry has also implemented propaganda campaigns to raise awareness and "self-resistance" for people to be vigilant in identifying advertisements with signs of violations and notify competent authorities for handling.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bo-vh-tt-dl-phan-hoi-vu-nguoi-mac-trang-phuc-vu-trang-nghe-si-quang-cao-sai-185250807164540539.htm