ASCI upholds complaints against 62 ads

Advertising industry watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 62 campaigns in December last year for misleading ads, including those by Bajaj Auto, Snapdeal, Hyundai, Reliance Digital, Ceat and Procter & Gamble.
Of 62 campaigns found violating norms, 40 belonged to personal and healthcare category, the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) said in a statement.
The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of the advertising watchdog concluded that South Koren auto maker Hyundai has violated guidelines while advertising its compact sedan Xcent and hatchbacks Grand i10 and Grand i20 by not displaying registration numbers of vehicles.
Advertisements of Hyundai Grand i10 and Grand i20 and Xcent show the vehicles did not have the registration number displayed and they are in breach of the law as it violated The Indian Motor Vehicles Act, ASCI said.

Similarly, it also upheld complaints against two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto for showing visuals of driving in a zig-zag manner in its TVC of Discover.
The advertisement of Bajaj Discover has visuals showing people on motorcycles, driving in a zig-zag manner, cutting lanes on the highway and also driving parallel in groups "encouraging dangerous practices and manifests a disregard for safety and is in violation of traffic rules," it said.

It has also upheld ad of Reliance Digital as misleading.
"The advertisement of Reliance Digital claims "zero down payment", was misleading by omission, as the customer has to pay the processing fees applicable for purchasing products, which is not mentioned in the advertisement," it said.

CCC also said Snapdeal's ad claiming two years of additional warranty on Videocon LED Television "distorts facts and was seen as misleading".
Similarly, complaint against Procter & Gamble Home Products was upheld where the FMCG major had claimed that its Pantene Total Damage Care Shampoo & Conditioner has given split end protection to 3,50,00,000 women.
"The figure of repeat usage of 3,50,00,000 users substantiated by the survey does not prove that the users actually got the proof of Pantene's split-end reduction," it said.