ASCI upholds complaints against 27 Ads; Rejects complaints against 15 Ads

During the quarter April ' June 2011 the Consumer Complaints Council of ASCI upheld complaints made against 27 advertisements from sectors such as FMCG, Education, Healthcare, DTH, Media.During the same quarter, the CCC also rejected complaints against 15 advertisements as they did not violate the ASCI Code.

In the educational sector, a complaint against IMS Learning Resources' advertisement claiming "8 out of 10 toppers in CBS" and other similar claims was upheld since the claims could not be substantiated with evidence duly validated by an independent agency. Similarly, complaint against Roots Education's advertisement claiming No 1 CAT coaching in Delhi and other claims was upheld due to lack of evidence to back the claim. The complaint against Career Launcher Ltd advertisement claiming 303 Calls in DU (BBS/ BFIA) without mentioning whether they were final admission calls or just interview calls was also upheld by the CCC. The complaint against Sri Balaji Society's advertisement claiming 829 students being placed from the 209-11 batch without mentioning the total number of students was upheld on the ground that the claim contravened Section 4c of ASCI's guidelines for advertising of educational institutions and programmes as the advertisement shows images of colleges which do not seem real.

ITM Institute of Fashion, Design & Technology in their advertisement state that their study programmess are approved by PIFT and MS University, but fail to provide details like full name and location. This contravenes the ASCI Guidelines for Advertising of Educational Institutions and Programmes, hence the complaint was upheld. Similarly, ITM Institute of Hotel Management stated that their degree programme was affiliated to Mumbai University but failed to provide a specific institution or college and its location. Also, their claim of being voted "Top Hotel Management College of the country by "Competition and Success Review' was not substantiated. Thus, the complaints against this advertisement were upheld by the CCC.

"High Definition' claims also came under the CCC scanner during the quarter. Dish TV's claim to offer '30 True HD channels' was rejected by the CCC citing that the use of the word "True' to denote "upscaled standard definition" channels as HD was misleading. Their claim of providing maximum number of HD channels was also challenged, stating that Dish TV can provide only a limited number of HD channels and the other '"claimed' HD channels were SD channels upscaled to HD at the DTH end. This claim would lead to consumers expecting an HD experience being misledSimilarly, complaints against certain claims made by Star India on the AsliHD campaign were upheld by the CCC stating that the claims of AsliHD were framed to exploit consumers' lack of knowledge ofHD technology.

Advertisement claims by FMCG majors HUL, P&G, Reckitt Benckiser, Paras Pharma amongst others came under the CCC's scanner. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was faced with a complaint regarding their advertisement on a leaflet of "Pureit Water Purifier' which contains numerous disparaging and false statements about the competitor product ' Tata Swach. The distribution of anti-Tata Swach danglers on Tata Swach packages by the advertiser was seen as undermining the Tata brand but also an unfair and unethical trade practice. Following the CCC's intervention and upholding the complaints, HUL withdrew the leaflet from the market. Another HUL advertisement that came under the scanner was the Axe Effect campaign. This complaint was upheld on the grounds that the visual used was overtly sexual and vulgar and portrayed women in an indecent manner. The complaint against Paras Pharmaceutical's sexually explicit advertisement of Set Wet Deodorant was upheld on the grounds that it was portraying women as sexual tools.

Some complaints on certain claims made by P&G's Pantene Pro-V Hair Fall Control were upheld by the CCC on the grounds that the depiction of a stylized golden circular drop misleads consumers into believing that 150 crore and not 15 crore women found Pantene to be effective. Moreover, P&G's claim that 80% of Indian women say that the new Pantene is better than anything else they have tried before, based on a study of just 360 women, was misleading. Following the CCC's decision, P&G removed the stylized golden circular drop in the advertisement. Similarly, complaints received against Reckitt Benckiser's advertisement for Dettol Skincare Soap was upheld on the ground that it was misleading consumers by wrongly linking the skin condition to germs, where in reality there is no correlation between the two.

The complaint against Sundrop Heart's advertisement was upheld on the ground that its statement "jeenekadaarnahi, khaaneka oil badaliye" can lead consumers to believe they can neglect the importance of healthy lifestyle by merely changing the cooking oil they use.

Complaints against an advertisement of International Tractors Ltd for their brand Sonalika Tractors were upheld as they used the creative property "Mileage ka Master' of Mahindra Tractors, thus taking unfair advantage of the goodwill attached to the Mahindra products.

During the same quarter, the CCC did not uphold complaints against 17 advertisements of various advertisers including MakeMyTrip, Mankind Pharma, P&G WellaKolestint, Dabur India, McNroe Consumer Products, Royal Hygiene, Tata Chemicals, HUL's Axe Googly Deo, Times of India, amongst others as these advertisements did not contravene ASCI's codes or guidelines.