The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of advertising practitioners and advertising agencies creative teams in Malaysia specifically within the process of modifying creative output with reference to the two self-regulatory rules that govern the advertising industry in Malaysia. Players in the industry are required to take responsibility and abide by the rules outlined in two Advertising Self-Regulations (ASR) that are part of the Malaysian Code of Advertising Practise and the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia. In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted as a part of the qualitative method to get critical feedback on the holistic view of ASR. A total of nine informants representing three categories of senior industry insiders such as regulators, advertising practitioners and creative agency members were involved through in-depth interviews through the selection of purposive sampling method. The study has revealed many advertising practitioners have recognised their internal and external duties to guarantee a favourable image from the creative material they generated or authorised. Which have also reflected mostly positive outcomes through the concept of knowledge, relevancy, and acceptance of the code of practise.

This study focused on understanding challenges within creative development of advertising industry in Malaysia. This will be analysed through the adaptation that needed to be made by key industry players from two advertising self-regulatory guidelines in Malaysia which are Malaysia Advertising Codes of Practice and Malaysian (The Code) and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (the Content Forum). Both code of conduct is a crucial part of the advertising regulatory framework as it justifies the mechanism behind industry implementation in any kind of advertising messages intended. Using Sternberg & Lubart (1995) Investment Theory of Creativity, this article analyses the idea behind regulatory bodies' rules, focusing on the role of the contemporary advertising creative quality and whether it generates the ability in moulding freedom or restrictions towards industry players. Through purposive sampling, informants were selected within advertising industry professionals such as advertising agencies and brand experts. The historical context and current state of Malaysia's advertising environment were better understood due to the insights from and in-depth interview conducted between regulatory bodies, brand experts, and advertising agency representatives. Outcome of the findings have developed six key concepts to reflect the challenges such as Relationship between client and advertising agencies, Societal acceptance of the creative work, Invasion of social media in advertising, Limited resources for prestige award submission, Layers of approval authority, and Decreasing creative talent pool within Malaysia.