ASCI partners TAM to introduce National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS); all set to reduce misleading ads in print and television

With a mission to further strengthen the process of constraining/reducing misleading advertisements which harm the interests of consumers, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), India's apex self regulatory voluntary body on ad content announced a path-breaking initiative called NAMS (National Advertising Monitoring Service) . This initiative has been created by ASCI in partnership with TAM Media Research, the central media research data provider of Indian Media Industry.

One of TAM's specialist divisions, ADEX India, that has been the central advertising monitoring and analysis hub for the Indian Advertising Industry for the last four decades, will track and monitor roughly 350 TV and 10860 newspaper newly introduced ads per week. . These ads will be those that have been categorized as specifically violating ASCI's ad code related to unsubstantiated, misleading or false claims in the advertisment.

According to Mr. I Venkat, Chairman, ASCI, "The National Advertising Monitoring Service or NAMS initiative is a paradigm shift for self regulation in Indian advertising & probably a benchmark for other countries as something like this has never been attempted at this scale anywhere in the world. For such an important and industry central initiative, TAM's ADEX India was the obvious option to handle such a large responsibility that brought in requisite infrastructure, neutrality, integrity and quality. NAMS will strengthen the ad self regulation Redressal process manifold, as we will be able to proactively monitor wider numbers of ads. This will be in the best interest of the Indian consumers as it will significantly reduce release of misleading advertising in India."

Said, LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, "Apart from media measurement, for decades now, we have been playing a silent yet central industry role towards media (advertising) monitoring and analytics as well. Our partnership with ASCI is yet another re-iteration of the neutral role we play within the Indian Advertising landscape."
As per ASCI's agreement with TAM Media Research , AdEx India will identify ads which are in potential violation of Chapter 1 of ASCI code (See Annexure 1). AdEx India will monitorads in the Auto, Banking, Financial Services & Insurance, FMCG (incl. F&B), Consumer Durables, Educational Institutions, Health Care Products & Services, Telecom and Real Estate sectors. The scope of work will cover the tracking of more than 30 Newspapers (all editions) which contribute to over 80% of national newspaper readership and all TV Channels across the country in all Indian languages. Ads seen as those potentially violating Chapter 1 of ASCI Code will then be forwarded to ASCI on a weekly basis, post which ASCI would process them as per its normal complaint procedure involving its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) for adjudication.