Centre cautious over jail term for celebrities in misleading ads

 The Modi government is treading with caution on the proposal for jail term for celebrities endorsing misleading advertisements.

At a meeting of an informal Group of Ministers examining the Consumer Protection Bill, it was decided to examine the global best practices on celebrity endorsements and whether there were comparable examples of jail terms for misleading advertisements.

The bill had provisions for a jail term up to five years and a fine of Rs 50 lakh for celebrities endorsing misleading advertisements.

“The Department of Consumer Affairs has been asked to conduct a comparative study on global best practices on celebrity endorsements,” a senior official said.

The informal GoM chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Health Minister J P Nadda, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari as members.