PremiumNEW DELHI : Edtech firms are putting out stereotypical advertisements and pressuring students to achieve better results, says advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci).
Half the 100 edtech ads analysed for a new ASCI ‘EdNext’ report talked about better results or high scores in exams, and showcased past toppers who had enrolled with the firm. Asci said it focused on the edtech sector’s advertising and the impact it has on students and parents. It picked 100 edtech ads across TV, print, digital video, and static ads and showed them children and parents.
The report said the education ecosystem has many challenges like hyper-competition, unfulfilled aspirations and a limited pool of good teachers, thereby turning the years of learning and development into the proverbial “pressure cooker" situations. These challenges are expected to continue unless companies change the way they advertise.
A third of the ads use superlative claims such as being the ‘best’ or ‘largest’ or ‘top’ in some parameter and a quarter guarantee success in the form of improving marks and helping students become toppers.
In some ads, exams are depicted in terms of a war, and students as warriors fighting a battle with a clear underlying message—that failure is not an option and the entire future of children rests on scoring well in exams.
“The sector has a huge opportunity if it stays away from the whole marks and exams narrative. The opportunity is to make education inclusive and the relationship with learning wholesome. The model we propose provides direction and sets up these companies to change the limited way of advertising," said Manisha Kapoor, CEO of the council.
She added that role models in most of these ads tend to be actors rather than those that have excelled in academic fields. “Edtech makes up for about 6-8% of the entire education sector only but significantly impacts the narrative due to the amount of money being spent on advertising and use of popular celebrities," said Kapoor.
“This hard selling of education seems to bother many stakeholders, as it treats parents as customers and creates the uncomfortable perception of the commodification of education.... Aggrieved parents have spoken out in large numbers on social media, trying to bring attention to their issues around infrastructure, quality of teachers, and refund of fees, among many others," the report said.