The Advertisement Standards Council of India

The Advertisement Standards Council of India

Subject: National Organisation

Context: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), was inundated with complaints about Covid-related claims in various advertisements.

Concept:

According to its annual report, of the 332 ads with Covid-related claims that it picked up, only 12 were able to substantiate the claims.

The Advertisement Standards Council of India

• The Advertisement Standards Council of India (hereinafter, “ASCI”) was established in the year 1985 under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956.
• It has been defined as a “voluntary, self-regulatory council” which has been registered as a non-profit company.
• The ASCI team consists of a Board of Governors, members of the Consumer Complaints Council and a Secretariat.
• The Board of the ASCI consists of a governor and 16 members, which comprise of members of reputable firms including media agencies, advertisers and other individuals involved with the advertising business.
• It is important to note that the ASCI is not a government body and is not responsible for formulating rules for the general public.
• The Consumer Complaints Council is the body responsible for examining and investigating complaints from consumers and the public at large in relation to any contravention of the Code of Conduct of the News Broadcasting Associations and advertisement ethics.

Functions

• The ASCI has adopted a self-regulating code, in its commitment to further the interests of the consumers.
• The ASCI also invites complaints from consumers against any such unfair, untruthful and false claims and advertisements; all of such complaints are examined independently by the Consumer Complaints Council.
• ASCI picked up advertisements of several other categories such as paints, apparel, detergents, skin care, ACs, fans, water purifiers, plywood and laminates, supplements and food – all promising Covid-related benefits,
• It deals with complaints related to online real money gaming ads in Jan-March 2021 and  released detailed guidelines for the sector
• It examines whether the advertisements are in violation of The Drugs and Magic Remedies Act.

Laws relating to unfair trade practices

• Anti-trust or competition law in India has provisions to protect the consumers against “unfair trade practices”. The Competition Act, 2002 prohibits the making of any representation to the public which is false or misleading in a “material respect”.
• An unfair trade practice means the practice of promoting sale, use or supply of any goods or services in a manner that involves an “unfair method” or “unfair deceptive practice”.
• Rule 7(9) of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 provides that “No advertisement which violates the standards of practice for advertising agencies as approved by the Advertising Agencies Association of India, Bombay, from time to time, shall be carried in the cable service.

Consumer’s right

There can be said to be two categories of misleading advertisements.

• The first kind pertains to the violation of the consumer’s right to information and to choice. Such advertisements relate to non-health issues that can cause mental agony and, or financial loss to the consumer.
• The second kind of misleading advertisements include health and nutrition related claims, and they are a violation of the right to safety of the consumer and can cause prejudice to the health of consumers.

Steps Taken

• Ministry of AYUSH issued a directive to clamp down on misleading ayurveda ads, and asked the ASCI to identify ads that violated its advisory.
• ASCI had issued advisory urging advertisers to fully substantiate their Covid-related claims through recognised testing facilities.
• It has implemented the influencer advertising guidelines, making it mandatory for influencers to label promotional content in their posts.
• In the year 2016, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting cast a mandate on all commercials and advertisements to follow the ASCI Code