Asci scans 295 advertisements in July, finds 265 misleading

Advertising sector watchdog Asci processed complaints against 295 advertisements, 265 of which were regarded misleading in July this year, including those of Danone, Dabur Vatika shampoo, Dove body lotion, Good Knight among others.

Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) investigated complaints against 295 advertisements, of which, for 79 advertisements, the advertisers promptly ensured corrective action as soon as the complaints were received.

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of Asci upheld complaints against 176 advertisements from a total of 216 advertisements evaluated by them.

It pulled up French dairy major Danone for its Protinex ad and said the claims were misleading by ambiguity, implication and omission.

It noted that the advertiser had compared the product with leading volume market share health/milk food drinks brands as defined by a Kantar study, while it was observed that the health/milk food drinks category includes drinks that have higher protein than Protinex as per the A C Nielsen retail audit, which were excluded in the comparison made by the advertiser.

"The claim was misleading by ambiguity and implication. Even though the claim 'leading hydrolysed protein supplement' is applicable to Protinex Original variant, the advertisement suggests that it is applicable to all the variants as displayed in the advertisement. This claim is misleading by implication and omission," it said.

It also upheld the claim against Hindustan Unilever's Dove Go body lotion's Facebook post video as it was inadequately substantiated and found it to be misleading by ambiguity and implication.

Similarly, it found Dabur Vatika shampoo ad to be inadequately substantiated.

"The claim is misleading by exaggeration and is likely to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers. The visual depiction of celebrity's hair was misleading by omission of a reference in the TVC that optimum level of lighting, make up etc is done to the artist to achieve the look," it said.

Asci also upheld the claim against Gillette India's Oral- B Toothbrush advertisement's claim in Bengali of bristles infused with neem extract was not substantiated.

"The claim is misleading by ambiguity and implication that Oral-B toothbrush users will benefit as the bristles contain neem extract and is likely to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers," it said.

It also pulled up Good Knight's power active+ and power chip ads and said the claims were not substantiated and were misleading by implication.