ASCI upheld complaints against 182 misleading ads in November

Advertising sector watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 182 misleading advertisements, including those of Kellogg's, Emami, CavinKare, Asian Paints, LG Electronics, SpiceJet, Honda Cars India and Reliance Retail in November 2017.

The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) received 243 complaints in the month.

A total of 243 cases were brought to ASCI's notice and suo moto action was taken against 152 advertisements, and the rest being complaints through direct sources. Out of 182 advertisements against which complaints were upheld, 65 belonged to healthcare, 96 to education, 3 to personal care, 7 to the food and beverages category and 11 from the 'other' category, it said in a statement.

It upheld the claim against low-cost carrier SpiceJet for claiming to be the country's most punctual airline.

"The advertisement's claim, 'SpiceJet - India's Most Punctual Airline', was not substantiated with any market survey data or with comparative data versus other competitor airlines or any third party validation or research to prove this claim. Also, the claim was misleading by exaggeration and implication," it said.

It also found Reliance Retail's ad to be misleading by implication and ambiguity.

"The product pack shows the Facebook app which seems to suggest that the particular app is available for use, as such, whereas the said Facebook application was only accessible via the web browser. The advertiser's product pack showing the 'Facebook' app was misleading by implication and ambiguity," it said.

The ad regulator also pulled up cereal brand Kellogg's claim of New Kellogg's Oats was not substantiated and misleading. It also noted that the disclaimers for its Special K were not in accordance with the ASCI guidelines.

It found LG's claim regarding fruits and vegetables staying fresh for one week in LG refrigerator due to 'Inverter Linear' feature versus them being kept in a refrigerator with non-linear inverter were not substantiated.

"The claim was also ambiguous as the results were based on internal tests and not real life conditions, which are subject to variability due to frequent opening and closing of the refrigerator and/or electricity fluctuations," it said.

ASCI also upheld the Asian Paints' Royale Atmos advertisement claim that the new paint purifies air with activated carbon technology and that this paint removes tough pollutants in the air as "inadequately substantiated, and are misleading by exaggeration."