Council upholds 25 of 38 complaints against ‘misleading’ adverts

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of a Mumbai-based self-regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), has upheld 25 out of 38 complaints that had been received across the country in June 2012.

"The adverts, in the fields of education, healthcare, FMCG & F&B, which were considered as false, misleading, indecent, illegal, leading to unsafe practices, or unfair to competition, and consequently in contravention of the ASCI Code for self-regulation in advertising, have been upheld," said a senior official of ASCI.

An examination of the product of a popular oil company that claims that the product 'fights cholesterol & heart disease', 'lowers blood pressure', 'controls and prevents diabetes' and 'fights cancer', proved that the product was produced by solvent extraction and had Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which was both mutagenic and carcinogenic.

A reputed ice cream company had advertised frozen desserts as ice creams. "Ice creams are made of real fresh milk and are a complete food high in proteins, calcium, dairy cream and vitamins. On the other hand, frozen desserts are made with vegetable oils/fats and do not contain the nutrients naturally found in milk," the official said.

A popular brand of chocolates depicting a group of senior students ragging freshers was also questioned. "A complaint against this advert was that it was done in bad taste and breached the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999 as it directly/indirectly propagates ragging," he said.

"Viewers can put in their complaints on our website or e-mail them to us. So far, about 20 companies of the 25 in question have stopped airing the advertisements after we sent them letters," Alan Collaco, secretary general, ASCI, told The Indian Express over the phone.

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