ASCI upholds complaints against 125 misleading ads

Advertising industry watchdog ASCI has upheld complaints against 125 misleading campaigns by companies such as Idea Cellular, Dabur, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer and Heinz during February this year.
According to the Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of ASCI (Advertising Standard Council of India), it received 167 complaints during February and a maximum of 73 complaints of misleading ads were upheld from the personal and healthcare category.
The council upheld complaint against advertisement of Idea Cellular which showed "the practise in Haryana of girls not being allowed to step out of homes to study, is defaming Haryana and tends to bring this state into disrepute."

"Also, the TVC is misleading by implication as the product/service promoted (Idea Internet Network) is shown as a substitute to and equating to college education," it added.
It also upheld a case against Heinz India's advertisement of its product 'Glucon D - Volt'.
"The visual of the advertisement shows kids flipping the Glucon-D Volt tablet into the air and catching in the mouth directly, which is seen as a dangerous act and is likely to encourage minors to emulate such act in a manner which could cause harm or injury," it said.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd was pulled up for its product Horlicks' advertisement.

"It suggests that consumption of Horlicks can be initiated at the time of exams for better concentration. It is misleading by ambiguity as the product has to be consumed for a considerable period of time to be effective," ASCI said.
Complaint against another FMCG firm Dabur's was upheld for making unsubstantiated claims.
"Dabur advertisement claims that Dabur Chyawanprash gives three times more immunity which makes kids strong from within and increases immunity that is the ability to fight illness by three times, were unsubstantiated," ASCI added.
ASCI also upheld complaints against advertisements of several educational institutes, including Institute of management studies (IMS), Ghaziabad, IMS learning resources, Triumphant Institute of Management Education P Ltd (TIME) and Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI).

"Complaints against 29 advertisements of educational institutes were upheld for making unsubstantiated claims that they provide 100 per cent placement and/or they claim to be the No.1 in their respective fields," it said.