Large number of misleading ads appear in media: Govt

Over a thousand complaints have been received in the last one year against misleading advertisements, Lok Sabha was informed today.
A large number of misleading advertisements appear in various media and a total of 1,046 such complaints have been received by the Grievance Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) in last one year, Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said during Question Hour.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has informed that a large number of instances of misleading advertisements appeared in media, he said, adding that in 2015, the Department had appointed Advertisements Council of India (ASCI), a voluntary self-regulatory body of advertisement industry as their executive arm to process complaints received by the GAMA.

Between March 2015 and March 31 this year, a total of 1046 complaints were received by GAMA of which 363 were successfully resolved, 234 were rejected and 391 escalated for regulator to intervene.
Rathore said in the last three years, a total of 525 TV advertisement were found to be making misleading, false and unsubstantiated claims. Of these, 187 were in 2013-14, 203 in 2014-15 and 135 in 2015-16.
In case of print media, the Press Council of India, takes action if the misleading advertisement appears in print media, he said.
The Consumer Protection Act 1986 provides that the practice of making any statement whether orally or in writing or by visible representation which falsely represents that the goods are of a particular standard, quality, quantity, grade, composition style or model; falsely represents that the services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, falls under unfair trade practices.