While legislators rue the multiple violations that they have to deal with in Vietnam's advertising sector, international experts see it as having strong growth potential.
The Vietnamese advertising industry is going to expand because the categories that drove consumption are expanding, said Tony Wright, an international expert during a recent visit to HCM City.
"Look at Vietnam's population now and we can understand where it would go in the next few years," he said. "Young people become wealthier and consume more, which means a healthy future for the [advertising] industry."
With a population over 80 million people, 70 percent of whom are young and dynamic, new economic categories will drive Vietnam to be one of the most important markets in the world, he said.
Wright's predictions seem to be borne from global marketing research companies, who have released reports showing increasing purchasing power among young consumers whose incomes are rising gradually.
A huge proportion of Vietnamese consumers will be more educated and at early stage of their productive career, resulting in higher purchasing power and stronger desire for premium goods, according to a report released last month by international consumer research company, Kantar WorldPanel.
Research conducted by the company in four major cities – HCM City, Can Tho, Da Nang and Hanoi – carries expectations of boosting global and local brands.
Wright's optimism about the development of the industry comes also from another perspective of the growing population. The high Internet penetration among the country's young population will drive the development of advertising industry, he feels.
Vietnam also has a retail environment that is more fragmentised and localised than in Europe or the US, so manufacturers and brands need more help from the industry to deliver and showcase their products to consumers, he said.
On the other side of optimism regarding its growth potential, the relatively nascent advertising sector in the country is under a cloud.
With the increasing number of advertisements of low quality products and services that have hurt consumers of late, deputies to the National Assembly from HCM City feel local authorities have failed to manage the industry properly.
A report by the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed 18 companies had repeated their violations three times within the last nine months of the years because the penalties are too weak to be a deterrent.
The report also said that the department has to have its staff do the work of removing advertising panels because the companies that own them ignored orders and reminders to remove them.
At a workshop held to gather opinions about the draft advertising law, the deputies expressed concerns over its ability to bring order to the mess that the local advertising industry is in.
They said many of the law's provisions do not address the actual situation on the ground andOn the other side of optimism regarding its growth potential, the relatively nascent advertising sector in the country is under a cloud.
With the increasing number of advertisements of low quality products and services that have hurt consumers of late, deputies to the National Assembly from HCM City feel local authorities have failed to manage the industry properly.
A report by the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed 18 companies had repeated their violations three times within the last nine months of the years because the penalties are too weak to be a deterrent.
The report also said that the department has to have its staff do the work of removing advertising panels because the companies that owned them ignored orders and reminders to remove them.
At a workshop held to gather opinions about the draft advertising law, the deputies expressed concerns over its ability to bring order to the mess that the local advertising industry is in.
They said many of the law's provisions did not address the actual situation on the ground and will therefore, be impractical and ineffective.
However, experts believe the situation of advertisements negatively impacting consumers could be dealt with by the law on protecting consumer rights that took effect on the first of July this year.
The law currently awaits implementation guidelines from concerned government agencies./.
The Vietnamese advertising industry is going to expand because the categories that drove consumption are expanding, said Tony Wright, an international expert during a recent visit to HCM City.
"Look at Vietnam's population now and we can understand where it would go in the next few years," he said. "Young people become wealthier and consume more, which means a healthy future for the [advertising] industry."
With a population over 80 million people, 70 percent of whom are young and dynamic, new economic categories will drive Vietnam to be one of the most important markets in the world, he said.
Wright's predictions seem to be borne from global marketing research companies, who have released reports showing increasing purchasing power among young consumers whose incomes are rising gradually.
A huge proportion of Vietnamese consumers will be more educated and at early stage of their productive career, resulting in higher purchasing power and stronger desire for premium goods, according to a report released last month by international consumer research company, Kantar WorldPanel.
Research conducted by the company in four major cities – HCM City, Can Tho, Da Nang and Hanoi – carries expectations of boosting global and local brands.
Wright's optimism about the development of the industry comes also from another perspective of the growing population. The high Internet penetration among the country's young population will drive the development of advertising industry, he feels.
Vietnam also has a retail environment that is more fragmentised and localised than in Europe or the US, so manufacturers and brands need more help from the industry to deliver and showcase their products to consumers, he said.
On the other side of optimism regarding its growth potential, the relatively nascent advertising sector in the country is under a cloud.
With the increasing number of advertisements of low quality products and services that have hurt consumers of late, deputies to the National Assembly from HCM City feel local authorities have failed to manage the industry properly.
A report by the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed 18 companies had repeated their violations three times within the last nine months of the years because the penalties are too weak to be a deterrent.
The report also said that the department has to have its staff do the work of removing advertising panels because the companies that own them ignored orders and reminders to remove them.
At a workshop held to gather opinions about the draft advertising law, the deputies expressed concerns over its ability to bring order to the mess that the local advertising industry is in.
They said many of the law's provisions do not address the actual situation on the ground andOn the other side of optimism regarding its growth potential, the relatively nascent advertising sector in the country is under a cloud.
With the increasing number of advertisements of low quality products and services that have hurt consumers of late, deputies to the National Assembly from HCM City feel local authorities have failed to manage the industry properly.
A report by the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed 18 companies had repeated their violations three times within the last nine months of the years because the penalties are too weak to be a deterrent.
The report also said that the department has to have its staff do the work of removing advertising panels because the companies that owned them ignored orders and reminders to remove them.
At a workshop held to gather opinions about the draft advertising law, the deputies expressed concerns over its ability to bring order to the mess that the local advertising industry is in.
They said many of the law's provisions did not address the actual situation on the ground and will therefore, be impractical and ineffective.
However, experts believe the situation of advertisements negatively impacting consumers could be dealt with by the law on protecting consumer rights that took effect on the first of July this year.
The law currently awaits implementation guidelines from concerned government agencies./.
