Govt moves to prevent surrogate ads on tobacco, alcohol

The government's move is aimed at implementing the provisions incorporated in the Cable Television Network Rules 1994 to prevent surrogate advertisements of alcohol and tobacco products on TV.

Introduced by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni in both Houses of Parliament yesterday, the paper suggests that if "a product that uses a brand or logo, which is also used for promoting cigarettes and tobacco products, then the visual of the advertisement should depict only the product being advertised and not prohibited products in any form or manner".

The paper, citing the proposed rules in connection with the matter, also says that "advertisement must not make any direct or indirect reference to the prohibited products".

In addition, the advertisement must not contain any nuances or phrases promoting prohibited products, and also the commercial must not use situations typical for promotion of prohibited products when advertising other products.

The above mentioned rules were issued through a Gazette notification by the ministry on February 27 this year, and were included in the existing provisions of the Cable Television Network Rules 1994, titled as Cable Television Network (Amendment) Rules 2009.