Complaints against 200 ads in October upheld: Watchdog

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday said its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) has upheld complaints against 200 advertisements out of 319 in October for mainly "gross exaggeration of product efficacy" and violation of acts and rules.

"In October 2017, ASCI's CCC upheld complaints against 200 advertisements. A total of 319 cases were brought to ASCI's notice and suo moto action was taken against 148 advertisements, and the rest being complaints through direct sources," a statement said.

Out of the 200 advertisements, 82 belonged to healthcare, 75 to education, 11 to personal care, eight to the food and beverages category and 24 from other categories.

"Complaints against brands from various sectors have been upheld for not abiding by the codes of self-regulation put forth by ASCI," the council's Chairman Abanti Sankaranarayanan said.

"It ensures protection to consumers against brands providing false and misleading information in their advertisements, and promotes honest messaging to protect the consumers' interest. It endeavours to provide transparency to both, the brands and consumers alike."

Gross exaggeration of product efficacy was the number one reason for upholding complaints, followed by violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act (DMR Act) and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules (D&C Rules), the council said, adding that the other reasons were failure to provide substantial facts and figures to support claims and providing misleading and ambiguous information.

According to the council, among the various complaints, the CCC observed that a prominent FMCG drug company was providing inadequate and misleading information on its products while promoting pimple-free skin in their campaign.

Similarly, an MNC had magnified information regarding the services provided to the public and its association with an international sports event. Both the claims were not substantiated with supporting data and were found to be inaccurate, it added.

--IANS

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