ADVERTISING RULES DISCUSSED IN MOSCOW








MOSCOW, March 13 /from RIA Novosti's Grigory Tebenikhin/ - Prospects for bringing Russian advertising standards on television in line with the European were considered Tuesday at a panel discussion "European Advertising Rules for Russian Television: To Be Or Not To Be?" The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament, specialists in advertising and consumer rights protection, and journalists.


	The panel analysed the state of the country's advertising market and discussed possible treasury and advertiser losses from bans on certain kinds of products. Participants in the discussion claim that advertising bans are lobbied by certain forces concerned. A graphic example is the tobacco market situation, with 70 percent of it controlled by international companies. According to experts, the scheme is simple enough. For a number of years, cigarettes of a certain brand are actively promoted and then the owners have a ban imposed on tobacco advertising, leaving consumers practically without choice. The scheme is used with other goods, too.