Realty most violative sector on problematic advertising in Apr-Sep: Report

The real estate sector has emerged as the most violative segment in advertising during the first half of FY25, accounting for over a third of the problematic campaigns, a report said on Tuesday.

The report by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said the self-regulatory body received 4,016 complaints during the first half, of which 3,031 were investigated and 98 per cent of them needed some modification.

From a media perspective, digital platforms contributed to 2,830 or 93 per cent of the ads processed by the body.

When it comes to violations of the code, the real estate sector is followed by illegal betting at 29 per cent, healthcare at 8 per cent, personal care at 7 per cent, and food and beverages at 6 per cent.

The body reviewed 2,115 ads from the realty sector, of which 1,027 were processed for potential violations of the MahaRERA Act, an official statement said.

On the illegal betting front, the body said 890 ads were flagged to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for promoting illegal offshore betting platforms, exploiting digital spaces like fan pages, tickers, and influencers.

Of these 890 ads, 831 were posts from Instagram, which were in the form of tickers and tags displayed on fan and community pages that directed users to offshore betting platforms, the statement said.

Amid concerns about greenwashing, the body said it reviewed 100 ads on such concerns and all of them required some modification.