I&B Ministry axe falls on deodorant ad

New Delhi, August 22: After turning its ire on airing of certain underwear advertisements, the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has now taken offence to the latest advertisement being aired by Axe Deodorants.

The Axe Dark Temptation Deodorant advertisement’s content and theme have been found “indecent, vulgar and repulsive” by the I&B ministry which has asked the Indian Broadcasters Federation (IBF) not to telecast it. It has further advised the IBF to refrain from telecast of any such advertisements with “indecent, vulgar or suggestive themes” to avoid any “punitive action in future”.

This is not the first time deodorant ads have drawn criticism from the I&B ministry. Earlier this year, the ministry had asked some music channels to apologise to viewers by running a scroll for three days after they aired a men’s deodorant advertisement which was also deemed indecent.

The Ministry has also requested the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) to provide details of complaints received and action taken by Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), if any, against the advertisement of the Axe product. In case no such formal complaint has been received, the Ministry letter itself is to be treated as one and appropriate action may be initiated. Looking into the sensitivity of the issue, as an interim measure, the ASCI has also been requested to advise the advertisers to refrain from airing the said advertisement pending decision of the CCC.

Only this June, the ministry had gone all out against underwear ads and had prohibited all channels from airing a Lux Cozy undergarment ad.The Lux Cozy advertisement which the ministry says showed “semi-clad male and female models and a dog” was found “indecent, vulgar and suggestive” and violative of Rule 7(8) of the Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The Ministry has also advised “all channels to be more careful in future in selection of content of advertisements” in its bid to sanitise the silver screen. It had also issued an advisory to all channels in May asking them to pull off air two “objectionable” advertisements for undergarments. Incidentally, one of these ads was from Lux Cozy and another from Frenchie X undergarments.

The action was taken after the ministry received some complaints from viewers on the suggestive and offensive nature of these advertisements that were frequently aired amongst other channels on Set Max which was then broadcasting the IPL Cricket series.

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