In an effort to reduce the elements of foreign culture being used in
advertising, the Ministry of Information has, since the early 1970s, imposed
the Made-in-Malaysia (MIM) rule, which requires all advertisements
to be produced locally. This rule is also designed to protect the
relatively new local film and advertising industry by requiring that most
commercials be produced in Malaysia. The talent, creative team and the
production staff must also be Malaysians. Foreign scenes or technologies
can only be used after prior approval from the Ministry of Information.
This approval is granted when the technologies or footage are unavailable
in the country. If the language used in the commercials in English, then it
must be “Malaysia-English” and the use of “British- or America English”
is prohibited (Parker 1982).