Sandeep Goyal writes open letter to Asci ahead of cricket World Cup 2023

Goyal asked Asci to 'stay vigilant' with respect to surrogate advertisement in the upcoming cricket World Cup 2023

Sandeep Goyal, managing director, Rediffusion, has written an open letter to the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) asking it to "stay vigilant" with respect to surrogate advertisement in the upcoming cricket World Cup 2023.

In the letter addressed to Asci chairman Saugata Gupta and vice-chairperson Partha Sinha, Goyal said that many of the brands that are partnering in the event, like Bira 91, Royal Stag and Jacob's Creek, are predominantly liquor brands.

However, the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, Rule 7(2)(viii) clearly prohibits the direct or indirect promotion and advertisement of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants and wherein the advertisements are not to use particular colours and layout or presentations associated with the prohibited products.

Goyal said that these brands in the past, have been "masquerading" as water, soda and bar accessories to market themselves.

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He also quoted Manisha Kapoor, secretary general of Asci, saying that all these ads have violated the Asci code. Goyal ended his letter by writing, "Dear Asci, stay viligant!"

Sandeep Goyal's full open letter

Dear Chairman Mr Saugata Gupta & Vice Chairman Mr Partha Sinha,

The ICC Cricket World Cup is all set to begin today.

As per media reports, Bira 91, Royal Stag and Jacob's Creek have signed up as ICC partners. Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard, Kingfisher, Black & White and Diageo feature prominently on the list of sponsors of the official World Cup broadcaster/digital platform Disney Star. They are all obviously gearing up for significant brand visibility as sponsors during the mega event.

To me, each one of these brands appears to be a liquor brand. Or so they are sold in the market to consumers.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, Rule 7(2)(viii) clearly prohibits the direct or indirect promotion and advertisement of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants and wherein the advertisement is not to use particular colours and layout or presentations associated with the prohibited products. Past experience shows that liquor brands have been masquerading as water, soda, and bar accessories, and as they get more innovative and creative are being peddled as books or 0.0% alcohol or ale or AI fan experiences, and more – all flimsy surrogates to circumvent the Law.

I have written open letters in the past to ASCI Chairpersons Abanti Sankaranarayanan and Subhash Kamath on the issue of surrogate advertising of alcohol. My missives to Abanti and my various exchanges with Subhash are part of the public record.

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Because of my untiring crusade to bring erring brands to book on the usage of false surrogates, ASCI finally took action in January 2021. Following the liquor brand extension ads that appeared during the IPL on television & OTT platforms, ASCI took up 14 complaints. In two cases, the advertisers apparently agreed to withdraw the advertisements immediately. The other 12 cases were taken to ASCI's Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) and issued notices.

Manisha Kapoor, secretary general, ASCI, in fact, went on record to say, "All these advertisements were found to be in violation of the ASCI code, as advertisers failed to convince the CCC that these were genuine brand extensions, or that they did not have direct or indirect cues of the category whose advertising is restricted or prohibited".

The last IPL was relatively free of surrogate advertising, at least on television (most brands continued to flout the guidelines on digital, though). But from the long list of ICC and Disney Star sponsors, it is clear that the various liquor brands are again lining up for big-time action – presumably using dubious and questionable surrogates.

This open letter is just to say: Dear ASCI, stay vigilant!

Thanks & regards,

Dr Sandeep Goyal

5 October, 2023

Mumbai