The Consumer Affairs Ministry is mooting a proposal for a regulator to curb misleading advertisements, including those relating to money circulating schemes. Misleading advertisements are those which do not deliver what is promised.
The ministry is planning a meeting of officials from the Health Ministry, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and independent experts to discuss the issue. Officials from the National Advertising Council of India will also be present, an official said.
The meeting which will be the first such exercise to determine the extent of misleading advertisement will also analyse ways and means to stop them. “Health ministry officials will have a big role to play in this initiative as many advertisements have a direct impact on consumers’ health,” a senior official said.
Recently, Consumer Affairs Minister K V Thomas had said the government was considering putting in place a mechanism to stop misleading advertisements in order to protect consumers from being cheated.
The minister said he had held discussions with officials and some non-profit organisations regarding misguiding advertisements.
He said in every sector such as medicine, banking, telecom and infrastructure, consumers are misguided.
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The need for such a regulator was felt as most bodies and authorities keeping a tab on misleading advertisements are self-regulatory in nature. Self-regulation has been found to be ineffective in dealing with misleading advertisements.
“For example, some advertisements claim that a certain product can reduce weight within a short time, while in reality this was not possible. These are classified as misleading advertisements,” an official explained.
Many advertisements run with impunity in the countryside and sometimes lead to dangerous consequences for the gullible consumer, the official said. He said many misleading advertisements also relate to money circulating schemes.