News Science

News Science

An Analysis of Iran’s Advertising Legal System Islamic Jurisprudential Foundations, Principles of Domestic Law, and International Standards

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 PhD Candidate of Media Management, Department of Media Management, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran. Email: ettahedou@gmail.com
2 Corresponding author, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Relations, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran. Email: r.saberi@atu.ac.ir
10.22034/lrsi.2026.554059.1459
Abstract
Objectives: This study presents a normative–critical analysis of Iran's advertising regulatory system, employing a three-layered analytical framework comprising Islamic jurisprudential foundations, core principles of domestic law, and international advertising standards. The primary objective is to examine the conceptual coherence, normative transparency, and regulatory capacity of two foundational regulatory documents - specifically in terms of safeguarding audience rights, ensuring legal predictability, and assessing their normative alignment with - and regulatory gaps relative to - contemporary global criteria, including accountability and proportionality.
Method: The research adopts a qualitative content analysis approach with a normative - critical orientation. The analytical corpus consists of two key legal instruments: the Regulations for the Establishment and Supervision of Advertising Agencies (1979) and the Policies and Regulations Governing Environmental Advertising (2009). In the analytical process, legal texts were systematically coded and examined across three normative levels - Islamic jurisprudence, domestic law, and international standards - with particular attention to identifying areas of alignment, contradiction, and regulatory lacunae.
Findings: The findings indicate that Iran's advertising regulatory framework suffers from a form of "structural gridlock." Fundamental jurisprudential and legal concepts - such as the prohibition of Gharar (ambiguity), the La-Zarar (no-harm) principle, and the principle of proportionality - have not been sufficiently operationalized into concrete criteria. Instead, they remain embedded within ambiguous administrative rules, thereby broadening the scope for arbitrary bureaucratic interpretation. Furthermore, as the current framework remains anchored in the logic of traditional media, it exhibits a substantial regulatory gap with respect to post-platform realities, including algorithmic advertising, data-driven micro-targeting, and deceptive user interface architectures (i.e., dark patterns).
Conclusions: The results demonstrate that enhancing the efficacy of Iran's advertising system requires the development of a comprehensive three-tiered framework integrating jurisprudence, domestic law, and international standards. The central crisis lies in the structural decoupling between normative principles and operational rules, compounded by the existing framework's inability to address emerging digital advertising realities. However, the study is limited by its exclusive focus on statutory texts, to the exclusion of administrative procedures or judicial precedents. By offering a distinct three-layered conceptual framework and actionable recommendations, this study illuminates the path toward regulatory reform - promoting greater transparency, enhanced audience protection, and closer alignment with Islamic values.
Keywords

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آیین‌نامه تأسیس و نظارت بر کانون‌های آگهی و تبلیغاتی. (۱۳۵۸). مصوب ۲۷ اسفند.
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