June 22: Business leaders and advertising experts have urged the government to distribute its advertisements equally through one basket.

Stating that the government is one of the major advertisers in the country, experts expressed concerns over the lack of transparent, competitive and fair process to distribute the government’s advertisements.

Speaking at a programme organized on June 21 by the Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN) to mark its 31^st anniversary, advertising experts also expressed the need for a national advertising policy, expansion of the advertising market and the code of conduct to monitor the advertising market.

Shubha Shankar Kandel, chairman of Nepal Media Society, said that all advertisements should be brought together under one basket and distributed among different media equally. He further said the advertising market lacks a fair, transparent competitive environment and customers are not getting the right information about the quality of products.

Similarly, Laxman Humagain, president of the Advertisement Board, said that a national advertising policy and code of conduct should be formulated on what kind of advertisement should be produced and the rights of customers to be informed with genuine information about the quality of product. He stated that a prosperous advertising market requires the development of industries. Advertising is the indicator of industrialization and the standard of life of people.

According to Jyoti Baniya, chairperson of Consumer Welfare Protection Forum, the target group of advertising market is the customers of the product so the practice of developing advertising content with false claims should be monitored.

Meanwhile, Shekhar Golchha, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said advertising is the medium to connect with the customers. Without advertisements, all the products and brands would look similar and wouldn't be able to compete, said Golchha.

On the other hand, Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, chairman of Media Alliance Nepal, said that the quality of the content of advertisement determines the expansion of the advertising market.

“Good contents attract investors and the advertising players will also follow suit,” he said.

Meanwhile, Som Prasad Dhital, president of the Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN), stated that the advertising market has created job opportunities for 33,000 people and this number should be maintained with the collaboration among the media and the Advertisement Board.