How many times have you felt like saying “what rubbish?” after watching a product advertisement on Television? Can you just believe that you can get a fairer skin by rubbing a cream on your face or eating ‘Pan Masala’ of a particular brand will make you successful, well there are many companies whose ads make vague claims just to make a person buy their products.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has banned 82 advertisements for misleading the consumers and making false representation of the product. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) which comes under ASCI received 148 complaints in total during June 2015, out of which 26 advertisements were from Personal and Healthcare category, 22 from Education category, 9 from Food and Beverage category, 7 from Media and Entertainment category while 18 from other categories.
The advertisements that are banned were of some big names of the industry such as L’Oreal India, Vicco Laboratories, Amity University, Institute of Finance Banking and Insurance, TV 18 Broadcast (CNBC), Living Media Ltd (India Today), Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd, Uber, Vodafone Essar Ltd, Honda Activa, Snapdeal, CavinKare, Thyrocare, Heinz India P. Ltd (Complan) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
The advertisement of Loreal India was banned as it claims “removal of 99.9 % pimple causing germs” which was vague and unproven, Uber ads states that “You drink, we drive”, which in turn is seen to be promoting alcohol consumption, Career launcher’s claim of “3 OUT OF 5 TOPPERS IN CLAT 2015 ARE CLSTians, 7 State Toppers & Counting” was found unproven while Amity University’s claim of “Amity University ranked among the Top Universities in Asia by QS, a leading ranking organization”, was not substantiated.
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