Advertising in Singapore answers to two sets of rules: the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice (SCAP), the self-regulatory code the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) administers, whose basic premise is that all advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful, and the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (CPFTA), under which a false or misleading claim to consumers is an unfair practice. The Code's truthful presentation clause rules out advertising that misleads by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration or omission, prices included. ASAS's guidelines on interactive marketing communication and social media took effect on 29 August 2016 and cover influencer and creator content. In March 2026 ASAS asked industry bodies to develop guidelines on generative AI in advertising.
What the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice Covers, and Who It Applies To
The Code is the standard ASAS applies to advertising in Singapore, and ASAS handles complaints about questionable advertising practices in all media, from consumers, businesses and government agencies. ASAS was established in 1976 as a Council under the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to promote ethical advertising, and it is the self-regulatory body of the advertising industry. The SCAP is its guiding principle: a code that promotes a high standard of ethics in advertising through industry self-regulation, formulated against national law and international law and practice, including the International Chamber of Commerce's Advertising and Marketing Communications Code. The ASAS Council brings together representatives of advertisers, advertising agencies, government agencies and media owners.
Does ASAS approve advertisements before they run?
No: ASAS states that it is not set up as a clearing-house to approve advertising before publication, and that responsibility for truthful advertising lies with advertisers and consumers. Advertisers consult the SCAP themselves. Advertising agencies and media owners in doubt over an advertisement request paid copy advice from ASAS. The normal service, within 20 working days, costs S$600 before GST for members of AAMS, AMOS or DMAS and S$1,200 for non-members. ASAS states that its copy advice is not legal advice and that requesting it gives no guarantee that feedback about the advertisement will not be made or upheld.
What happens when ASAS finds a breach?
When ASAS receives a complaint and finds that an advertisement breached the SCAP, its sanctions run, in order of severity, from a request to amend or remove the advertisement to a referral to the authorities. ASAS lists four sanctions:
- informing the advertiser to amend or remove the advertisement
- withholding advertising space or time from the advertiser and withdrawing trading privileges from advertising agencies, sanctions the media owners apply
- publishing the outcome of the review, naming advertisers that breached the Code
- referring the matter to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
ASAS's online complaint form takes consumer-to-business, business-to-business and government-to-business feedback, on issues from misleading claims and pricing to comparisons and social media.
Which ASAS advisories sit alongside the Code?
ASAS publishes advisories that are read together with the SCAP: social media guidelines, food and beverage advertising to children, gambling advertisements and promotions, the display of full prices, and enhanced guidelines on advertising investments under Appendix J. The children's code is a framework for food advertising targeted at children aged 12 or younger, across all media in Singapore.
Where does the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act fit?
The CPFTA is the statute that sits beside the Code's truthful presentation principle: ASAS notes that under the Act it is an unfair practice for a retailer to make false or misleading claims, and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) administers the Act. CCS states that the CPFTA applies broadly, including to businesses that market products to consumers without necessarily selling them, and to businesses inside or outside Singapore that sell to consumers in Singapore. CASE and the Singapore Tourism Board are the first points of contact, and Voluntary Compliance Agreements record retailers' written commitments to stop unfair practices. CCS investigates retailers that persist, applies to the courts for injunctions, and treats a breach of a court order as contempt of court, a criminal offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment. The Second Schedule of the Act lists examples of unfair practices, and CCS states that the list is not exhaustive.
General guidance, not legal advice.
What the Code Means for Your Marketing and SEO Copy
Service pages, meta descriptions, ads, social posts and price lists all meet the same test under the Code's truthful presentation clause: no misleading by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration or omission. The table maps common claim types in Singapore search and social copy to the rule behind each one.
| Claim type | What the rule says | What to check | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality, standard and "best" claims | No misleading by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration or omission; representing goods or services as a particular standard, quality or grade when they are not is an unfair practice | Evidence on file for each superlative and quality claim before it publishes | SCAP clause 5.1; CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraph 4 |
| Statistics, research and scientific terms | No misuse of research results or quotations from technical and scientific publications; no statistics presented to imply greater validity than they have; no scientific jargon used to suggest a basis a claim lacks | Every statistic carries its source and date, and technical terms match the evidence | SCAP clause 5.3 |
| Headline prices | No misleading about price and no underestimate of the total price; unavoidable charges such as taxes, surcharges and service fees sit inside the headline price; a charge not calculable in advance is disclosed clearly and prominently beside it | "From" prices, package pages and quotes summarised on the site | SCAP clause 5.1; CCS Guidelines on Price Transparency |
| Discounts and strikethrough prices | A discount or comparison with a usual price is genuine and has a valid basis, and a time-limited offer states its period clearly | Records of past prices and sale dates behind every strikethrough | CCS Guidelines on Price Transparency; CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraphs 9, 20 and 21 |
| "Free" offers and trials | Qualifiers, later charges and key terms appear clearly and prominently with the "free" claim | Offer banners, landing pages and sign-up copy | CCS Guidelines on Price Transparency |
| Comparisons with competitors' prices | Comparisons are not false or misleading, cover goods or services consumers accept as similar or equivalent, and rest on regular research | Dated reference prices kept on file | CCS Guidelines on Price Transparency |
| Advertorials and sponsored content | A presentation that is substantially an advertisement is clearly stated as one; a sales message in the form of an editorial, documentary or scientific report states that it is an advertisement or a promotion | Sponsored articles, guest posts, "review" pages and creator content | SCAP clause 5.2; CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraph 16 |
| Guarantees, delivery and returns | No misleading about guarantees, delivery, exchange, return, repair and maintenance | Warranty, delivery and returns wording | SCAP clause 5.1 |
| Awards, approvals and affiliations | Claiming a sponsorship, approval or affiliation the business does not have is an unfair practice | Partner logos, "as featured in" bars and accreditation badges | CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraphs 1 and 2 |
| Limited availability and urgency | Representing availability at a price, in a quantity or at a time the supplier knows is not so, without stating the limitation, is an unfair practice | "Last slots", "while stocks last" and countdown copy | CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraph 7 |
| Material facts in small print | Omitting a material fact, or using small print to conceal one, is an unfair practice | Footnotes, collapsed sections and terms links | CPFTA Second Schedule, paragraph 23 |
Sources: ASAS, "CPFTA" (SCAP Chapter II, clause 5, "Truthful presentation"); Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003, Second Schedule, current version as at 24 October 2026; CCS, Guidelines on Price Transparency, last updated 26 September 2025. All checked 24 October 2026.
How do the price rules apply to quotes and package pages?
CCS's Guidelines on Price Transparency, in effect from 1 November 2020, apply to every supplier, online or in a physical store, and cover four practices: drip pricing, price comparison, discounts and the word "free". For a service business that publishes "from" prices or package rates, unavoidable charges belong in the headline price; a charge not calculable in advance is disclosed clearly and prominently beside it, with any later fees. CCS encourages records of reference prices and past sales to show that comparisons and discounts are genuine. The CPFTA's Second Schedule also lists charging a price substantially higher than an estimate given to the consumer, without the consumer's express agreement in advance, as an unfair practice. CCS publishes a separate Guide on Fair Trading Practices for the Renovation Industry.
What do influencers and content creators disclose?
Influencer and creator content that promotes your business falls under ASAS's Guidelines on Interactive Marketing Communication and Social Media, and the disclosure of the compensation creators receive is one of the matters those guidelines cover. ASAS issued the guidelines on 29 August 2016, after consulting social media agencies, public agencies, multinational companies and members of the public, and they are read with the rest of the SCAP. In September 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and ASAS published an infographic guide for online content creators on promoting financial information responsibly. It covers when a licence from MAS is required, the steps to take before promoting a financial product or service, and the disclosure of compensation under ASAS's social media guidelines. The full disclosure requirements sit in the guidelines document on ASAS's site; brief every creator with it before a campaign goes live.
Do quality and environmental claims need evidence?
Yes: a quality claim rests on evidence, because the Code bars the misuse of research and statistics and the CPFTA treats a claim that goods or services have qualities, uses or benefits they do not have as an unfair practice. CCS published a Guide on Quality-Related Claims, last updated 6 October 2025, after concerns over potential greenwashing and enforcement actions against businesses found to have made misleading claims; it sets out five key principles for such claims.
General guidance, not legal advice.
What the Code Means for AI Answers and AI-Generated Content
The Code's basic premise covers every advertisement, so copy and images produced with generative AI meet the same legal, decent, honest and truthful test once your business publishes them. ASAS received 379 pieces of advertisement feedback in 2025, and seven concerned advertisements that involved generative AI, more than double the three received in 2023 and 2024 combined. ASAS is calling on industry bodies to develop guidelines on the use of AI in advertisements, not to restrict the practice but to make sure the resulting advertisements do not mislead consumers.
Is AI-drafted advertising held to a different standard?
No: the advisories ASAS lists for reading with the Code include no AI-specific advisory, and its March 2026 media release asks industry bodies to write AI guidelines, so the SCAP and the CPFTA apply to AI-drafted copy as they apply to any other draft. CCS describes an unfair trade practice as anything a business says or does that misleads or deceives a consumer. A statistic with no source, a superlative with no evidence or a price with hidden charges meets the same clauses, whoever or whatever wrote it.
What do AI assistants repeat about your business?
In Aemorph's working model, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity describe a Singapore business from the public sources they find, your own pages and profiles among them, so an exaggerated or unsupported claim on your site becomes material for their answers. The fix sits at the source, on the pages and profiles you control. The free Hallucination Report compares what the AI engines say about your business with what your website currently says, and flags where they conflict.
General guidance, not legal advice.
How Aemorph Checks Advertising Claims Before Publication
Your nominated point of contact signs off every regulated claim before Aemorph publishes it, and Aemorph uses testimonials and before-and-after material only where Singapore law permits. Aemorph is not a law firm. It does not review your copy against the SCAP or the CPFTA, and it does not confirm that any advertisement complies: as the advertiser, your business holds those obligations. ASAS states that it is not set up as a clearing-house to approve all advertising before publication, and CCS gives no specific advice on how the CPFTA applies to a particular case; it points businesses to its general guidelines or their own legal advice.
| Check | Applies to | Standard | Checked against | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Testimonials | Service pages, the LLM info page and proof sections | Used only where the law permits | Your point of contact's sign-off | Before publication |
| Before-and-after material | Any page that shows a result of the service | Used only where the law permits | Your point of contact's sign-off | Before publication |
| Price and package claims | Service pages, quotes summarised on the site and showstopper answers | Wording matches your business's own approved prices and terms | Your point of contact's sign-off | Before publication |
| Public claims in showstopper answers | The LLM info page | Aemorph organises the facts your business supplies and approves | Your point of contact's sign-off | Before Aemorph publishes |
| Health claims, where a service makes them | Specialist services that make health claims | Conservative wording, no exaggerated promises | PubMed, professional associations, government health authorities | Before publication |
Source: Aemorph compliance practice, October 2026.
Who signs off the claims on your pages?
You decide who signs off: the business owner, the chief marketing officer or the risk team. Aemorph publishes a regulated claim only after that person approves it, and the facts in your verified record are the facts your business supplies and approves. Inside the Showstopper Sensor (Sprint 1), a 30-day showstopper-answer sprint for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, the same sign-off covers the showstopper answers before they go live.
Where do health, education and financial claims fit?
Sector rules sit on top of the Code, and each one stays the advertiser's own obligation. Aemorph's guides cover healthcare advertising under MOH rules, private education marketing, MAS financial advertising and PDPA and DNC rules for enquiry data.
General guidance, not legal advice.
High-Ticket Lifestyle Brands: Start With a Free Strategic Conversation
Singapore lifestyle and specialist service businesses that want search and AI visibility built on claims their own reviewers have approved start with a free strategic conversation with Aemorph. Aemorph is headquartered at 34 South Bridge Road, Singapore, and replies to every message within 24 hours. The high-ticket lifestyle page sets out how Aemorph runs SEO, AEO and GEO for considered purchases, from interior design to wedding planning, and the case studies hub holds Aemorph's Singapore results.