Two advertisements – one being featured on television channels about the “anti-viral properties” of a particular brand of shirts, vests and briefs, and another published in prominent Malayalam newspapers recently on an allergy detection camp – have drawn criticism from public health activists for their misleading claims.
While the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has sought suitable modification or withdrawal of the ‘MCR antiviral shirts’ advertisements by May 4, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission has filed a case against the second one based on a complaint.
The advertisements featured in prominent Malayalam newspapers last week had said that Chennai-based Specialty Diagnostic Laboratories would organise allergy detection camps at low charges for four days from April 16.
The CCC observed after viewing the “antiviral shirts” advertisement that the claims “anti-viral shirts vests and briefs” and “each shirt has anti-viral technology, which throws away viruses” were not substantiated with technical data or test reports for product efficacy.
“The claims are misleading by exaggeration and are likely to lead to grave disappointment in the minds of consumers,” said Manali Kulkarni, Executive-Complaints Handling, ASCI, in a mail.
Given the current situation, the visual resembling coronavirus in the advertisement would also mislead viewers that the usage of the product would remove the virus.
The CCC also observed that the disclaimers were not in the same language as the audio of the advertisement, and where the claim is presented as voice over, the disclaimer should have been displayed in sync with the voice over.
Allergy camp
Meanwhile, the Campaign Against Pseudo Science Using Law and Ethics (CAPSULE), Kerala, a wing under the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, filed complaints with the Chief Minister’s Office, the State Police Chief, and the rights panel, pointing out that these events were held at a time when big gatherings were being avoided in view of the second wave of the pandemic.
CAPSULE functionaries claimed that there was no information on the large-scale presence of an allergic disease in Kerala. However, most of the people might be allergic to one thing or the other. They might tend to avoid COVID vaccination if they detect it at the camp. The advertisement also does not clarify what type of blood tests were done, and the name, address, and authentication of the institution which conducted the tests. It was also not clear if the excess blood collected would be used for some other purpose.
