ASCI takes decisions on 5 ads

The Consumer Complaints Council decision report released by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for the months of May and June has come down heavy on five brands.  According to the report, some of the prominent brands went overboard in their claims and hence were asked to withdraw or modify their advertisements duly. 

For the month of June, companies like Reliance Communications Ltd and Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd with two ads each were asked to withdraw their ads.  Apart from that, the Parle Agro Pvt Ltd (LMN Juice) and Scorpio Enterprise (Natraj Atta Maker) advertisements were questioned. And for the month of May, the advertisement of Johnson & Johnson Ltd (Stayfree Secure Ultra Thin Napkins) was questioned for its claim. 

Here are the reasons the ads were pulled up: 

The Stayfree Secure Ultra Thin Napkins TVC makes claims that might not be exclusive just to their product, and hence can mislead consumers. The TVC also made a comparison with another product – Whisper Choice (which has similar orange packaging). According to the CCC decision, while the TVC did not denigrate the competitor’s product, it was still misleading and hence the advertiser was asked to modify the commercial appropriately. 

Natraj Atta maker made three claims, one of which was that it saves grains up to 25% which has not been substantiated. Hence post CCC decision, the advertisers promised withdrawal of misleading claims. 

The TVC of LMN Juice seems to have hinted at racism by portraying the African nation in a bad light and it has been withdrawn. The basis was that it had undernourished stereotypes as Africans which could be viewed as racist. 

Reliance Communications Ltd’s claims of unlimited net calls and unlimited talk time in the Reliance CDMA Plan were unsubstantiated, and have resulted in withdrawal of both the ads.  Both these plans are subject to certain limits which were not mentioned in the ads. 

The new Volkswagen Polo ad campaign has been discontinued under the violation of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules, 2001, for portraying violence against animals. 

Apart from that, the complaints made against Mankind Pharma Ltd (Don’t Worry Sanitary Pads), Kalyan Jewellers, State Bank of India (The Banker to Every Indian), Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co Ltd (Bajaj Allianz Shield Plus)T. I. M. E. (IIT-JEE 2011 / 2012), Henkel  India  Ltd (Pril Power Gel), Career Launcher (I) Ltd (CAT’09, GMAT’09, CET’09 Results), Coca Cola India P. Ltd (Thums Up – Thunder Wheels Offer), Kerala  Co-operative  Milk  Marketing Federation Ltd (Milma  Ice Cream), Max Bupa Health Insurance Company Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd (Horlicks), Travel Guru (Travelguru.com), Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Zatak deodorant) and  Noesis Education And Management Services (Free CAT – 10 Workshop) were not substantiated.