Do not use doctor's outfit to advertise food

Lawyer Nguyen Thi Thuy, YouMe Law Firm LLC, replied:

Clause 1, Clause 2, Clause 3, Article 27 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety regulating the registration of food advertising content, accordingly, in addition to complying with the provisions of the law on advertising, food advertising content must also comply with regulations, including:

1. Before advertising, organizations and individuals with advertising products must register advertising content with the agency issuing the Certificate of Receipt of the Certificate of Registration of Product Announcement according to current regulations.

2. The advertising content must be consistent with the uses and effects of the product as published in the product announcement. Do not use images, equipment, costumes, names, or correspondence of medical units, facilities, doctors, pharmacists, medical staff, thank-you letters from patients, or articles from doctors, pharmacists, or medical staff to advertise food.

3. For health protection foods:

a) There must be a warning "This food is not a medicine and does not replace medicine"; the handwriting must be clear, with colors contrasting with the background color;

b) Advertising in newspapers and magazines must clearly read the recommendations as prescribed in Point a of this Clause;

c) Advertising in newspapers and radio stations for a short duration of less than 15 seconds must not read "This food is not a medicine and does not have the effect of replacing medicine", but must show recommendations in the advertisement.

Therefore, doctors are not allowed to use the image, equipment, or clothing of doctors to advertise foods according to the above regulations.