ASCI upholds 31 complaints against misleading ads in Dec

Advertising sector watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 31 misleading advertisements in December 2017, including those of Blue Star, Huggies, Magicbricks, Aava Mineral Water, Apollo Paints among others.
The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) received 81 complaints in the month.
Amongst the 31 advertisements which it held misleading, 13 belonged to the healthcare category, seven to the education category, three to the food and beverages category and eight were from other categories, it said in a statement.
From the total of 20 advertisements picked by ASCI's suo moto surveillance, complaints against 18 advertisements were upheld. Of the 61 advertisements complained against by the general public or by industry members, 13 advertisements were upheld by the CCC.

It pulled up realty portal Magicbricks ad claiming it was "misleading by gross exaggeration".
"The advertisement's claims,'Get a Mercedes on every booking, 'Get flat Rs 35 lakh discount and many more such deals' and '500+ exclusive deals', were not substantiated with evidence of the offer being officially offered and / or details regarding genuine customers who have availed of this offer. These claims are misleading by gross exaggeration," it said.

It found the advertisement of Blue Star's air purifier misleading by ambiguity and implication.
"The advertisement's claim, 'Air in your house is 10 times more polluted than air outside' did not provide any technical report in support of its quantitative claim of indoor air being 10x polluted. This claim was not substantiated and is misleading by exaggeration," it said.

It found Huggies advertisement claim, 'Rated India's No.1 Soft pants...' with the visual showing full range of Huggies diapers, with a disclaimer in small font referring to Huggies Ultra Soft pants, misleading by ambiguity and implication.
ASCI also upheld claims against Apollo Paint's two ads stating that their claim, 'No more asthma, no allergies', was not substantiated and is misleading by exaggeration.
It also found Aava Mineral Water's advertisement claim, 'India's highest selling natural mineral water' was inadequately substantiated and misleading by exaggeration.