Advertisements are the main mode to market certain products or services. The advertisements are normally done through radio, television, pay TV channels, public transport vehicles, billboards, multimedia channels etc.

Not all advertisements are effective in attracting consumers to buy the products advertised. The effectiveness of an advertisement depends on the various features the advertisement contains.

However, in order to lure the consumers to buy the products advertised, some companies go overboard with the contents of their advertisements. So much so that some of their claims in the advertisements are ridiculously unbelievable and are blatant lies.

I still remember, quite some time back, when the authorities came up with certain guidelines and rules to be followed in advertisements. This was due to the complaints from consumers and consumer associations.

However, I notice that the enforcement of these guidelines and rules are not strictly followed now.

There are advertisements for detergents which claim that if the said detergent is used, 99.9% percent of the dirt and germs would be washed off. Some have the audacity to show that the cloth washed with the said detergent is whiter than even a brand-new cloth!

Many banks promote their personal loan facilities and their credit cards stating that no guarantors are needed, that a very low income suffices and a low ‘have been employed for' period. However, at the bottom right or left, will appear the sentence ‘Conditions Apply' using tiny fonts.

A similar ploy is also applied by airlines, travel and tours companies and many other concerns. If we call them to find out about the ‘Conditions Apply' criteria, they would normally request us to drop by personally to find out. If we go to the banks personally, they will they come up with new conditions contradicting what was declared in their advertisements.

The same situation is faced for other products and services. In the end, we end up wasting our precious time and energy just to get deceived.

One advertisement on Malaysian TV promotes a particular facial fairness cream. The ad ‘guarantees' that customers will have a fairer skin after 28 days of usage. If not, they ‘promise to refund the money paid for the product'. Again, of course, ‘conditions apply'.

There are many advertisements which offer free gifts to customers. However, at the bottom right or left, it would be stated in small fonts that ‘While stocks last'. It is okay if the stocks available is mentioned in the ad for the consumers to decide whether to go for it or otherwise. On the contrary, many do not state the units offered as free gifts.

Another common gimmick used by the vendors is the rate of discounts offered to their customers as per their ads. As far as I saw, there are many vendors who offer ‘discounts up to 70%'. If you assess the actual discount given, you would be flabbergasted. Here is an example of that.

If the initial selling price was RM10 then after 70% discount, you only pay RM3. Yes, it is unbelievable, so there must be a catch isn't it? The price would have been inflated and then the discount is given. It could be a very old and obsolete item or it could be a genuine discount but only available for one or two products just to attract consumers. The item could be having defects, from an overrun or the discount is genuine and the purpose of it could be to promote their new business premises.

All the above ads are daringly placed in the dailies and run almost everyday. To curtail and to eradicate this, I hope and plead that the new minister in charge of consumer affairs and internal trade, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, will do something about it concretely and immediately before the situation goes out of hand.