ASCI upheld complaints against 130 misleading ads in April

Advertising sector watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 130 misleading advertisements, including those of Emirates, HUL, Amazon, Vodafone, Britannia and Kingfisher in April.
The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) received 199 complaints in the month.
It upheld 73 in the healthcare category, 30 in the education category, 13 in the Food & Beverages category, four in telecommunication sector and three in the personal care category, and seven from others.
ASCI has upheld claim against the Emirates Airlines for claiming introductory fares starting from Rs 68,800 in economy class offering an additional piece of luggage (total of 3 pieces) to Newark.

The ad regulator found that it "was not substantiated with supporting evidence of the advertised offer being available and evidence of genuine customers who have availed of this offer. Furthermore, the claim is misleading."
The CCC found liqour major United Breweries violating its codes and indulged in surrogate advertisement for its Kingfisher beer through packaged drinking water.

"The twitter advertisement is for the product packaged drinking water, for which the advertiser did not provide the annual market sales data of the product/service advertised," said ASCI.
It further added: "Based on the reference to 2017 Cricket Edition, it was concluded that the advertisement depicting the Kingfisher Premium brand name is a surrogate advertisement for promotion of a liquor product - Kingfisher Premium Beer."

The ad regulator also pulled telecom service provider Vodafone for its claims of "Rs 328 + Unlimited Local / STD Calls for 28 days" and termed it as "misleading".
It also took action over two complaints against ecommerce major Amazon.
It found that Amazon ads for Woodland Wallet for Men claiming to be genuine was not "substantiated" and "is misleading by ambiguity" as it was not "able to ensure that the product is genuine"
Britannia Industries also failed to substantiate claims for Nutrichoice Essentials Oat Cookies that it reduces the overall sugar and was "Clinically Proven"
"...Is not substantiated with studies for the advertised product among diabetic population, and the graph showing blood sugar levels and picture of a Biscuit on X Axis is misleading by implication that the product provides benefits of reducing the overall sugar levels," it said.

Similarly, FMCG major HUL was also pulled up for claiming that its toothpaste Pepsodent Germi Check provides "12 hour protection" against frequent consumption of sugary food by children and CCC found it to be "inadequately substantiated".
"The advertisement is misleading by implication and omission of other measures required to be taken for protection from caries after eating sugary food," it said.