Online petition grows against agency behind BN ads

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Apr 27, 2013

(KiniBiz) – Rapp, a communications company owned by Foetus International, has come under fire for creating a series of incisive political advertisements for Barisan Nasional (BN). The ads have irked netizens to start a petition after it ran extensively in mainstream newspaper, The Star, and other newspapers from last Sunday and was shared on Facebook.

Quoting unidentified sources, trade magazine Campaign Asia-Pacific reported that Kuala Lumpur-based Rapp was said to be the agency which created the ads which insinuate that a vote for Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the 13th Malaysian General Elections would be the same as endorsing the Pan-Islamic Malaysian Party (PAS). This drew much flak from the Malaysian online community with 648 so far signing an online petition calling for advertisers to stop using racial and religious tactics against Malaysians.

The petition also urged Naga DDB, the parent of Rapp to stop the ad campaign. David Mitchell, Naga DDB’s Chief operating officer (COO) however told KiniBiz that Rapp was a separate company from Naga DDB, related only by their common parent Foetus International.

Lim Wai Yee, Rapp’s COO did not respond to queries at publication time.

Rapp KL is owned by Foetus International, a leading communications company headed by Vincent Lee. Lee is also the executive deputy chairman of Star Publications (M) Bhd.