In a move to promote and strengthen self-regulation in advertising and step up efforts to prevent misleading advertisements, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has officially tied up with Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
ASCI is a self-regulatory organization of advertising content.
The collaboration will evaluate and pass strictures against violators and has identified six priority sectors to be covered including Agriculture & food, Health, Education, Housing, Financial Services and E-commerce.
A statement from ASCI said that while operational aspects of the collaboration are being worked upon, DoCA has requested ASCI to flag advertisements that are in clear violation of the law (eg. Claims regarding cure of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, leucoderma, etc. covered under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act. "This will enable prompt action against such non-scrupulous advertisers and protect consumer interest," ASCI said.
"The problem of misleading advertisements and the consequent unfair trade practices that arise is widespread – across sectors, mediums and geographies," G. Gurucharan, Additional Secretary, DoCA said in a statement. "DoCA’s effort is to build a coalition of stakeholders to combat this menace – partnering with ASCI is an important step."
Complaints will be evaluated across media like print, packaging, internet, outdoor, wall paintings, posters, billboards etc and DoCA will redirect complaints received by it to ASCI to avoid duplication of processing of complaints against advertisements that is already under process by ASCI.
"Earlier our work has been recognized by various government bodies like Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Medical Council of India, etc.," Narendra Ambwani, Chairman, ASCI said. "It is highly motivating to see such developments and this partnership has widened ASCI’s scope for complaints."
