KUALA LUMPUR – With public sentiment growing increasingly vigilant, advertisements that risk offending any segment of society have no place in today’s media landscape, said public relations experts, including former Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan.
In response to the recent backlash over a Rapid KL train advertisement that was accused of racial insensitivity, Kamalanathan, who is now Public Relations Practitioners Society of Malaysia chairman, urged advertisers to exercise greater caution and to fully comply with the Malaysian Code of Advertising Practice (MCAP).
“Personally, any advertisement that has even the chance of offending any particular group or layer of society should not be used in any form of advertising,” he said.
He added that the MCAP offers clear guidance to prevent such issues and expressed hope that action has been taken to prevent recurrence. “I’m hopeful Prasarana have taken the appropriate action and such incidences are stopped fully in the future.”
“Advertisers should be careful in not offending anybody and use their creativity and innovation to make sure the message comes across effectively yet not offending to anybody,” Kamalanathan stressed.
The ad in question, intended to raise awareness about body odour, depicted a scenario on a train with one figure commenting on another’s smell. But the backlash intensified when a cropped version of the image — featuring what appeared to be an Indian man — went viral on social media, leading many to assume he was being portrayed as the source of the odour. In the full image, the odour was actually coming from another figure.
Following public uproar, Prasarana swiftly removed the ad, even though it had reportedly passed internal sensitivity reviews. The decision was met with mixed reactions — some praising the move to de-escalate, others criticising what they saw as unnecessary censorship.
Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA) president Claudian Navin Stanislaus, emphasised that while the MCAP provides a strong framework, advertisers must go beyond technical compliance to fully respect Malaysia’s multicultural fabric.
“Public sentiment trumps technical compliance,” he said. “Marketers should know that a message goes beyond words — it’s also about timing, placement, imagery, and connotation.”
He added that improving media literacy and cultural education is crucial to reducing misunderstandings. “Advertising doesn’t operate in isolation; it reflects and shapes societal attitudes. If we want nuance in the media, we must foster it in classrooms, homes, and public discourse,” Navin said.
However, professor Mohd Said Bani CM Din, who is Public Relations and Communication Association (PRCA) president, argued that the ad itself was not racist and that public reaction was skewed by the misleading cropped image.
“I believe that most Malaysians wouldn’t interpret it through a racial lens until some overly sensitive individuals highlighted it as such,” he said. He also warned of hypersensitivity being exploited for political mileage.
Said Bani said the decision to withdraw the ad, while not technically necessary, was “professionally wise” to avoid further controversy. He urged brands to embed cultural awareness into the creative process through diverse review panels and better internal training. – April 21, 2025