By A Correspondent

In August and September 2020, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) reports that it has looked into complaints against 317 ads, of these 64 were “promptly withdrawn by advertisers on ASCI’s intervention”. The independent Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of ASCI evaluated the remaining 253, of which complaints against 221 advertisements were upheld. Of these 221 advertisements, 101 belonged to the education sector, 77 to healthcare, eight to food and beverage, seven to personal care, three to finance and investments and 25 were from other categories. Complaints against 32 advertisements were not upheld as they were found to not be in violation of the ASCI code.

Notes a commuique: “In August and September both, the education sector saw a sharp rise in institutes making misleading and false claims in their advertisements, claims such as top of their field, Ranking No. 1, 100% job placements, best institute, 100% passing rate, were the most used claims that violated ASCI’s code. One online learning app claimed to be the best and pioneer of live online classes. Many educational institutions didn’t have substantial data and surveys to support the claims they were making and the CCC recommended that these advertisements be declared misleading. ASCI also upheld misleading ad claims made on various digital platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.”

Said Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General of ASCI said: “Covid-19 related claims as well as misleading education claims continued to dominate the kind of complaints we received at ASCI during this period. The independent Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), which comprises members of civil society as well as industry, jointly view such advertisements and adjudicate. The CCC goes deep into understanding the underlying complaint and the advertiser response and justification before an opinion is given. ASCI’s only goal is to promote responsible advertising which safeguards consumers.”