“… I Lost Ten Pounds in 5 Weeks …”: The Legal Position Of Testimonials and Sponsorships Within Medical Advertising in the UAE

Analysis

The UAE has a strong regulatory regime in relation to advertising content. The National Media Council has released guidelines which all advertisers are expected to understand when promoting their products to the public. When discussing promotional content with advertisers, we emphasise the content of National Media Council Resolution 35 of 2012 on Advertising Standards. For advertising that relies on testimonials or on links to a celebrity, we refer particularly to the terms of Article 5.

Conditions to be applied in advertising:

Advertising shall not be ambiguous or obscure or void of any clear indications.

• It shall not include any false or misleading claims or resort to exagerations, intimidation, or claim to be unique while contempting competitors, and it shall not resort to fraud and deception.

• The advertisement shall not include images that are falsified or imitated or images of which they don't have the rights to use.

• The advertisement shall be real and unexaggerated, not leading to confusion or ambiguity with other products or activities.