Regulator Authorities urge ASCI to speed-up review and compliance processes in advertising content

At the Conference organized by The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Smt Ambika Soni, I&B Minister and Prof K V Thomas, Minister of State, Ministry of Food, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution recognized the commendable work done by ASCI in creating best practices through its self-regulatory mechanism and various codes of conduct in advertising content. However, the Ministers have urged ASCI to further improve the self-regulatory mechanism by speeding up the processes and compliance of its codes for advertising content.

Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State, Ministry of Food, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution in his speech at the conference said, "We are reviewing consumer complaints on misleading advertisements & debating how to manage this issue. In this process, we are considering a legal requirement as well as an inter-ministerial committee to look into the issue of misleading and false advertisements. We are open to working with ASCI for a collaborative effort to take this entire matter forward."

The Hon I&B Minister Ms Ambika Soni, in her speech on the occasion urged ASCI to speed up its mechanism to review consumer complaints on misleading advertisements thereby making the self-regulation machinery more effective. She also added, "Self regulation is an evolving system in response to the growing aspirations of the consumer or the common man. Advertising is the principle motivator of growth in consumer demand, thus making the role of a creative person extremely significant. The current Self Regulation mechanism has evolved as a result of the concern shown by the consumer. The key intention here is that all of us should sensitize ourselves to ensure that 1.2 billion people can enjoy the freedom entrusted to us."

I Venkat, Chairman, Advertising Standards Council of India updated the assembly on the various initiatives undertaken by ASCI in recent times. He said, "As part of our evolving self-regulatory system, we have increased the frequency of our Consumer Complaints Council's meetings to twice a month since November. The Fast track service announced recently has already received positive response. CCC has already reviewed 8 advertisements until now under the Fast Track system. The support we expect from government will ensure that ASCI continue to create global standards and international benchmarks in self-regulation of advertising content."

The Conference also comprised of three technical sessions to discuss issues and solutions related to (i) Decency in advertising, (ii) Honesty & truthfulness in advertising and (iii) F&B Advertising. Each interactive session had speakers representing Industry, Regulators and Activists and was moderated by TV anchors with expertise in the field of advertising.

In India, there are several laws regulating the content of advertisements and the consumers are protected from misleading and deceptive advertisements through the enforcement of such laws. However, it has been observed that the initiative taken by the advertisers, advertising agencies, media and other concerned parties to impose self regulation on themselves through a voluntary code of conduct on the content of advertisements has resulted in institutionalizing a robust self regulatory mechanism under the ASCI umbrella in its 26 years of service to the consumers and the advertising sector. It has not only addressed the issue of promptly resolving intra-company disputes on the content of advertisements but also taken action on individual complaints on advertisements raised by citizens and aware consumers.

Advertising
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Advertising