JOIN USA study done by the Consumer Guidance Society of India in Mumbai about four years ago revealed that 16 per cent of women who used `fairness creams’ had suffered from long-term or short-term side effects following utilisation of these products.
When asked what they had done to counter their fate arising out of allurements by the companies involved in the form of pernicious ads, their reply was “who would like to admit that they have been fooled by some ad in the mass media?’’ or “the legal system in the country is so complicated, it is better to suffer in silence than to go against these moneyed companies’’.
This, in a nutshell, spells out the fate of the consumer when confronted with advertisements in the mass media which are misrepresentations or downright cheating. Examples of such misleading ads are available aplenty, varying from ‘health drinks’, ‘beauty soaps’, ‘get rich quick schemes’ and of course the ubiquitous ‘fairness creams’.
The ‘fairness cream’ sales pitch and its success are a classical study of how advertisements can make a mark on the human psyche and sell a product of doubtful utility. Dermatologists over the world are unanimous in their opinion that all that such creams do is to produce a `bleaching effect’ on the skin, which is always temporary.
Discontinuation of the product would almost always lead to reversal of the effects, but if one in six persons who use these products suffers from adverse effects as the study showed, then the question of how such products were ever allowed to come into the market would be a good question for the Food and Drugs Administration which is supposed to strictly enforce the Drugs & Cosmetics Act to answer.
The sales strategy of projecting a fair person being as ‘more likeable and acceptable’ and finding it easy to get jobs, a spouse or building character and guts to face the world, only fortifies age-old traditions of looking down upon those who are of darker skin.
The West is and has taken giant steps to get over such prejudices but Indian advertisers make a kill on the same subject, as the Rs 3,000 crore (and growing) fairness cream market testifies.
Unit Linked Insurance Plans and ‘High Growth Mutual Fund Schemes’ also follow the same trait of playing on human weaknesses, to make a sale of products which ultimately fail to deliver or in some cases, even send people into penury. There are thousands of cases of senior citizens who have fallen into the advertisement trap of getting into such schemes and found their hard-earned money literally vanishing before their eyes.
The financial pundits are quick to point out that the fine print at the bottom of the advertisement ‘clearly states’ that such investments are ‘subject to mark fluctuations and risk’, but the salesman who approaches the customer is either a person who is known to the investor or makes a big mark with his glib talk which entices the sale.
False claims
‘Health products or drinks’ which claim to increase the height of children in certain age groups are also blatantly making false claims, as there is no medical formula known to increase the height of a human being. The agony and torture which parents who are short in height face when they have short offspring, due to pressure from society or peer pressure when the child is taunted at school is unbelievable and adds to sales charts of companies who use these exploitative ads.
The authorities in India have relied on a system of self-regulation to control the virus of misleading ads, but with no success. Though advertising agencies, manufacturing companies and service providers swear by the mantra of being honest in the projection of their wares, misrepresentation and often pure deceit are the order of the day.
When caught with their pants down, they resort to excuses like ‘a little puffing-up of product benefits is never harmful and permitted all over the world’ or referring to obscure studies which show the superiority of their product. In the absence of stringent laws, consumers are left with no option but to face this bombardment and be taken for a ride.
Western countries have found an efficient answer to advertisements which are aired on the mass media. In addition to clearly mentioning the limits of the product in question, possible adverse effects are prominently displayed in the advertisement.
So much so, that ‘peanut allergy’ (quite common in America, but not known to be so in India) often finds mention in food products which are sold over the counter.
Unfortunately, India has neither a regulator nor a strong consumer movement which can bring perpetrators of pernicious ads to book.
(The writer is Hon Secretary, Consumer Guidance Society of India, Mumbai)