ASCI upheld complaints against 98 out of 162 advertisements

In October 2016, ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 98 out of 162 advertisements. Out of 98 advertisements against which complaints were upheld, 37 belonged to the Healthcare category, 31 to the Education category, followed by 6 in the Food & Beverages category, 5 in Personal Care Category and 19 advertisements from other categories.

HEALTHCARE:-

Thosh (Thosh Ion Shower): The advertisement’s claims, “Good news for those who are suffering from Asthma, Respiratory diseases & Breathing problems, Allergy, Migraine Insomnia, And those who are fed up of taking heavy medication and pills for the same. Now Negative Ion therapy has a solution”, were not substantiated and are misleading by gross exaggeration.

Respi Care (Salt Room Therapy): The advertisement’s claims, “100% Natural Therapy for Breathing & Skin Problems” - “Asthma - Bronchitis – Rheumatoid Arthritis – Sinusitis – Wheezing – Eczema – Psoriasis – ILD – COPD – Anxiety – Sarcoidosis -  Stress – Pulmonary Fibrosis – Respiratory Allergy – Smokers Cough – Frequent Cold Cough – Atopic Dermatitis”, is ambiguous and is misleading by implication and exaggeration as it suggests cure for various ailments claimed in the advertisement including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Sarcoidosis.

Radhe Sumiran Women’s Hospital: The advertisement’s claims in Gujarati (as translated into English), “Top-3 Best Test Tube Baby (IVF) Centre by Times of India Health Survey” and “Best in IVF”, were not substantiated with supporting proof, and are misleading by exaggeration.

PERSONAL CARE:-

Zee Laboratories Limited (Zee Myfair Cream): The advertisement’s claim, “Medically Proven”, was not substantiated with clinical evidence, and is misleading.  Also the claim, “Trust of More Than 50 Lakh People”, was not proven with supporting data and is misleading by exaggeration. Further the claim, “President Award Winner”, was not substantiated with details of the award as well as references of the award such as the year, source and category for the award received.  The advertisement is misleading by omission of a disclaimer to qualify the claim.

Unique Permanent Hair Loss Cream: The advertisement’s claims (in Hindi) as translated into English, “Get rid of hair for a lifetime through cream by applying the cream twice”, “Get rid of the hair on face, private parts, chest and waist just by applying the cream twice”, “100% Ayurvedic”, “No Itching, No Burning, No Spots, No Black Marks”, “You will only Benefit from the use if this cream, it has no harmful effects at all”, were not substantiated with evidence of product efficacy. Further the claim, “Trusted by 6.5 Cr. Indians”, was not proven with supporting data or with any independent audit or verification certificate.   Also, claims of efficacy being depicted via images of before and after the treatment are misleading.

Bajaj Corp. Ltd. (Bajaj Almonds Drops Hair Oil): The advertisement’s claims, “get the nourishment of almonds” and “it has goodness of almonds”; along with visuals showing almonds, without having undisputedly proven the presence of real almond oil in the product in a reasonable quantity was misleading by ambiguity and implication.

FOOD & BEVERAGES:-

Cargill India Pvt. Ltd. (Nature Fresh Professional Best Fry Premium Frying Oil): The advertisement’s claim, “Professional Best Fry Premium Frying Oil”, was inadequately substantiated with comparison data with other blended oils, and is misleading by ambiguity and implication as the Advertiser has not supported this terminology with actual frying trial comparisons to prove that their product is the “best” among all other oils in the market for frying.

AB Inbev India Private Limited (Budweiser): The advertisement on the brand’s Twitter page makes reference to Music CDs, through which it was concluded that the advertisement was a surrogate advertisement for the promotion of a liquor product – Budweiser Beer. Thus, the advertisement is misleading by implication and contravened Chapters I.4 and III.6(b) of the ASCI Code (“Whether there exists in the advertisement under complaint any direct or indirect clues or cues which could suggest to consumers that it is a direct or indirect advertisement for the product whose advertising is restricted by this Code.) Also, the advertisement did not meet the requirements as per ASCI's Guidelines for Qualification of Brand Extension Product or Service and thereby contravened Chapter III.6 (a) of the ASCI Code (“Whether the unrestricted product which is purportedly sought to be promoted through the advertisement under the complaint is produced and distributed in reasonable quantities, having regard to the scale of the advertising in question, the media used and the markets targeted.”). It was also observed that the twitter homepage also shows the beer bottle which is in contravention of Chapter III.4 of the ASCI code.

Cargill India P. Ltd. (Nature Fresh ActiLite Cooking Oil): The advertisement’s claims, “Low fat cooking”, “Lite on food”, and “Low oil absorption”, were not substantiated with any evidence or technical test reports and are misleading.  The disclaimers in the advertisement (TVC) were not clearly legible.  Also, the supers in the Hindi advertisement (TVC) were not in the same language as the audio of the advertisement (TVC).

EDUCATION:-

The CCC found following claims in the advertisements by 31 different advertisers were not substantiated and, thus, violated ASCI Guidelines for Advertising of Educational Institutions. Hence complaints against these advertisements were UPHELD.

Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (BYJUs Classes): The advertisement’s claim, “70% of our GMAT students in last 8 years have crossed 700”,  was not substantiated with authentic supporting data nor any independent audit or verification certificate, and the claim is misleading by exaggeration.

1. C. Mahindra Education Trust (Nanhi Kali): The advertisement portrays a girl aged six to seven years cuts her hair with a scissor, just to look like a boy so that she can also join school. The advertiser states that the cutting of the hair by the girl child is symbolic of her dilemma to fit into a society we live in and they have put in Supers to strongly discourage any re-enaction. But it was noted that the disclaimer in the advertisement (TVC) is not legible.  Also, the disclaimer in the advertisement (TVC) is not in the same language as the audio of the TVC (Hindi), and the duration of the supers in the advertisement (TVC) are not for 6 seconds on the screen. 

Millennium Group of Institutions: The advertisement’s claim, “Leader in campus Placement”, was not substantiated with comparative data versus other similar institutes in the same category or any third party validation or research to prove this claim.  Also, the claim is misleading by ambiguity and omission of the reference to the particular criteria for which they are the leader.  The claim, “Awarded for best Technical Education”, was not substantiated with details, references of the award received such as the year, source and category.  The claim is misleading by omission of a disclaimer to qualify the claim.

OTHERS:-

Rohit Surfactant Pvt. Ltd. (Ghadi Detergent Bar): The print advertisement’s claims, “Ab Jaisa bhi Mel Ho, Uska Puri Tarah Se Safya” (“Now be any kind of dirt, it gets completely cleaned”), and the TVC’s claim, “Is se Cuff aur Collar ho saaf puri tarah” (“It completely cleans cuff and collar”), were not substantiated with an independent third party study, and are misleading by exaggeration. 

Enterr 10 Televisions Pvt. Ltd (Bhojpuri Cinema): The advertisement’s claim, “No.1 Bhojpuri Channel, 4 Weeks In A Row”, is false, was not substantiated.

Cheil India P. Ltd (Samsung Galaxy S5): The advertisement’s claims an offer "Get free 4G data for 6 months”, is misleading by ambiguity and omission of the mention of conditions. Though the offer was available on 3G and 4G variants of Galaxy S5, since the customer has purchased the 3G variant he is eligible for the 3G data for 6 months but not eligible for the 4G data offer. It was noted that a consumer who opts to buy a lower priced phone, could be misled as the advertisement does not provide this information.