Six markets, many languages and scripts
Indonesia works in Bahasa Indonesia; Malaysia in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil; Singapore has four official languages, English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil; the Philippines mixes Filipino and English, often in the same sentence. Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet with stacked tone marks that generated text garbles, and a missing mark can change a word's meaning entirely. Thai has its own script and no spaces between words, so line breaks need dictionary-based segmentation rather than the rules that work for English. Set all text as live type and have native readers check every version. Neighbouring languages are not interchangeable, even where they look close, as Indonesian and Malay audiences will quickly point out.
Super-apps, marketplaces and live commerce
Shopping runs through Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, which merged with Tokopedia in Indonesia, and through super-apps such as Grab and Gojek. Messaging differs by country: LINE in Thailand, Zalo in Vietnam, Facebook Messenger in the Philippines, WhatsApp in Malaysia and Indonesia. Live commerce is mainstream, and the double-date sales of 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 and 12.12 drive huge demand for product imagery and short video in a few weeks. Each marketplace has its own image and listing rules, so one product needs many compliant variants. The studio's product-lock keeps packaging and labels pixel-accurate across every variant, which matters most when the same item sells in six languages on six storefronts.
Halal marks, religion and royalty
Indonesia's Halal Product Assurance Law (Law No. 33 of 2014) is phasing in mandatory halal certification, starting with food and beverages from larger companies in October 2024, with more categories and smaller firms following. Only certified products may carry a halal mark, and Malaysia's is protected too, so a generated pack shot must never add, invent or alter one. For Muslim-majority audiences in Indonesia and Malaysia, keep pork and alcohol out of general content, respect modest dress and plan around Ramadan and Hari Raya. In Thailand, the monarchy is protected by strict lèse-majesté law, so keep royal imagery out of advertising entirely, and treat Buddha images as sacred rather than as decoration.
Data and AI laws, country by country
Vietnam's Law on Artificial Intelligence (No. 134/2025/QH15) took effect on 1 March 2026. Providers must mark AI-generated audio, images and video in machine-readable form, and AI content published to the public that could mislead about real events or people must be clearly flagged, as must imitations of a real person's appearance or voice; the law places these disclosure duties on the deployer, the business that uses AI to publish the content. Vietnam's personal data protection law, No. 91/2025/QH15, is also in force. Elsewhere, Singapore's PDPA, Thailand's PDPA, Indonesia's PDP Law, Malaysia's amended PDPA and the Philippines' Data Privacy Act all apply to faces and voices. Singapore has no binding AI advertising rule yet; its advertising standards body has asked industry to draft guidelines.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.