The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has found over 140 advertisements which are misleading, based on exaggeration of products efficiency and exploitation of consumers’ lack of knowledge.
The advertisements covers Parle Products Pvt. Ltd (Parle Magix Biscuit), Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul Memory Milk-Tropical Fruit), the 'True Roots Botanical Hair Tonic'
The advertisement of Parle Products Pvt. Ltd (Parle Magix Biscuit) shows a kid dressed in the police uniform pulling the trigger and firing a bullet (through an audio cue) at the shopkeeper saying in angry tone "Koi bhi cream biscuit Magix ki jagah chipkaoge". The humorous TVC, though not objectionable, manifests a dangerous practice, exploits the vulnerability of minors and more importantly encourages minors to emulate the modus operandi of any crime.
"The advertisement's claims by Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul Memory Milk-Tropical Fruit) that 'Milk with goodness of Ayurveda' and 'Contains various Ayurvedic herbs that are traditionally known to boost memory', were not substantiated as the advertiser did not provide data of any scientific rationale or published literature references to support the claimed benefits. The claims are misleading by exaggeration.
In the 'True Roots Botanical Hair Tonic' advertisement, celebrity Radhika Apte was featured endorsing the product with claims like ""Stop new grey hair", "Jo naye safed balon ka aana roke, jad se", "True roots ke 100 % natural extracts balonke jadonme jakar melanin bhadaye. 90 days tak regularly lagayen taki safed balon ka aana band ho jaye", "Safed baalon ka jaldi aana jad se rokiye, with TRUEROOTS.", "No New Greys in 90 days, get rid of premature grey hairs from the root". "These claims were not adequately substantiated. The product may cause darkening of grey hair by virtue of Kesh Ranjak ingredients the claims were found to be misleading by ambiguity and implication. The advertisements were in violation of the ASCI Guidelines for Celebrities in advertising," the ASCI said.
The ASCI said that majority of the flagged advertisements were upheld for "exaggeration of product efficacy and exploiting consumers' lack of knowledge." This was followed by violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act (DMR Act).
Upholding the complaint on Vivo Mobile India Pvt, the ASCI said that the advertisement's the claim, "Dual Rear Camera with Dual Pixel Technology", was not substantiated, and misleading by exaggeration. The advertiser did not provide any technical data or test reports for Vivo V11 Pro having feature of dual rear camera with good picture quality.
The ASCI said that the advertisement (in Hindi) by Lord Dhanvantari Ayurvedic hospital, claiming cure of knee pain and joint pain by showing similar testimonials and same X-ray reports for two separate individual patients and claiming progress on first day of treatment, and treatment after three and six months. These claims were not substantiated with supporting clinical evidence and are misleading by gross exaggeration and exploit consumers' lack of knowledge and are likely to lead to grave widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers.
For the food & beverages (F&B) sector, the ASCI found a couple of well-known brands referring to ayurvedic or herbal ingredients known for their memory enhancing properties; however, the associated claims were not substantiated. "The advertisement's by One97 Communications Ltd. (PayTM claim on their website that "`50,000 redeemable on purchase of diamond precious jewellery with diamond jewellery voucher worth `50,000" was misleading by omission of additional terms and conditions of cashback offer. The website advertisement is likely to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers," it said.
Another advertisement's claims, "CAT 2019 and 2018 Toppers", and "Maximum 99+ Percentilers in Lucknow are from CaTaPult" with photographs of students and their secured percentile were not substantiated with supporting evidence. The claim (in Hindi), 'IIM jaana hai toh CATaPult aana hai' and 'Sure shot entry into IIMs' (If you want to go to IIM then you must come to CATapult), are misleading by exaggeration and are likely to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers.
Of these 145 advertisements, 83 belonged to the healthcare sector, 33 to the education sector, ten to the food & beverages sector, one to personal care and 18 were from the 'others' category. A large number of these advertisements were digital, i.e, advertisers' own websites carrying the objectionable claims and visuals.