This was sent in to ST Forum on 1st July 2011 but was not published.
It is a positive development that the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has imposed guidelines on real estate agents with regards to their advertising.
However, CEA should consider having stricter guidelines on the use of SMS advertisements.
Often, an individual will receive numerous advertisements from different agents in the same company.Currently, the consumer will need to unsubscribe from each SMS on an individual basis. This is tedious and there should be an option for us to unsubscribe at a company level.
On another note, there does not seem to be anyone regulating the use of titles like “Stock Market Specialist” or “Forex Trading Expert” in the newspapers advertisements we see on a daily basis. Given that these advertisements affect more people, there should be greater control in this area.
Can the relevant authority look into this?