The Advertising Council of India (ASCI) has pulled up 15 companies including GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd, the makers of Horlicks, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Max Life Insurance for making misleading claims in their advertisements.
ASCI, which formed National Advertising Monitoring Services (NAMS) with AdEx (an entity of TAM Media Research) in May this year, has taken action against 205 allegedly misleading advertisements that received complaints between May and October 2012. ASCI had upheld 177 advertisements during the full calendar year 2011.
The independent agency that monitors advertisements in Indian media has received 187 complaints in 2010-11, of which 104 were upheld. Of this, 85 advertisers complied, according to ASCI.
While, Glaxosmithkline was asked to stop using the commercial for their energy drink Horlicks, Hindustan Unilever was asked to pull out the commercial for its toothpaste brand Pepsodent Expert Protection.
According to ASCI, “the advertisement (for Horlicks) does not disclose the manner in which Horlicks provides comprehensive nutrition as has claimed in the advertisement.” It also notes that 5 out of the 7 claims made in the ad does not follow the ASCI guidelines. An e-mail sent to Glaxo did not elicit any response.
As per the complaint against the print advertisement by Pepsodent, the complainant got the impression that she does not need to use dental floss or mouth wash as the Pepsodent Expert Protection toothpaste claims to provide the same.
However, HUL spokesperson said "The ASCI decision was with regard to an objection on a specific visual depiction in the advertisement. The advertisement was appropriately modified in line with the ASCI decision and the modified advertisement is on air.”
Several TV and print advertisements placed by big organisations were changed or discontinued after they were found making misleading claims. In October alone, ASCI heard 23 complaints of "misleading" ads. Out of which,16 were asked to be removed.The ASCI is a self-regulatory body of the advertising sector.
Others companies who were asked to stop or modify their advertisement includes, Cadilla healthcare ltd for their Everyouth Natural fairness face wash, VLCC Personal Care Ltd for VLCC Shape UP Waist and Tummy Trim Gel and Healthcare Shape up, Dainik Bhaskar Group for their “How Divya Marathi opened the new market” campaign, Max Life Insurance for Shiksha Plus II Child plans and others. (See list)
Some of the misleading ads also feature celebrities. For example, the television commercial for Sahara Q shops by Sahara India TV Network features Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag promoting Sahara Q shops. According to ASCI’s its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), the Sahara commercial used” fear and scare tactics to sell such products which are already adulteration-free.”
“There has been a notable rise in the education sector ad complaints being upheld. During the same period companies in the healthcare, personal care and insurance space were also seen to be releasing ads that make misleading claims,” Bharat V Patel, Chairman, Indian Society of Advertisers and Head of Marketing Committee at ASCI said. Six educational institutes have figured prominently in the list of misleading advertisements.
According to ASCI, almost 80% of advertisers in India comply with the codes set by the council. The compliance rate has improved to 80% from 71% during the past five years.
