ASCI pulls up HUL, Coca Cola, Emami, others for misleading ads

Top FMCG companies, including Hindustan Unilever, Coca Cola, Emami and PepsiCo India Holding, have been pulled up by the advertising sector watchdog ASCI for misleading advertisements in June.
The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) received 126 complaints in the month, out of which 62 have been upheld.
Other companies against which complaints have been upheld include Amazon.Com, and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), ASCI said in a statement.
The watchdog upheld 23 complaints in healthcare category, 17 in education, 10 in food and beverages, six in the personal care category, and six from others.

The ASCI pulled up Coca Cola India for its campaigns for Maaza, Fanta, Sprite and Thums Up saying disclaimers in the advertisements "were not legible".
Emami's advertisement for Kesh King ayurvedic oil and shampoo in which the FMCG firm claimed "no hair-fall, dandruff or dryness" was considered to be an absolute claim, the regulator said.

Further, "the advertiser did not substantiate the claim of 'weak matrix cells in the roots of the hair are activated by this oil'," the ASCI added.
Similarly, the ASCI found Hindustan Unilever's advertisement for its ayurvedic anti-dandruff Ayush shampoo to be misleading saying "the message (that) use of anti-dandruff shampoo is associated with fears of hair loss in users, is not based on any evidence and is unsubstantiated".

For Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's claim saying World's largest solid organ transplant programme, the ASCI said "it is not adequately supported. Also, the claim is misleading by exaggeration.