NEW DELHI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), an apex body of broadcasting companies operating in India, has decided to go in for its own accreditation of advertising agencies, including those that are not members of the Triple As of I (Advertsisng Agencies Association of India).

Explaining the rationale behind this decision, a source in the IBF said, "The accreditation process is akin to what the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) does to bring about more accountability and facilitate recovery of dues of members from clients. We are also planning a similar initiative."

The accreditation process is to start shortly and is expected to further bring down the level of cumulative outstanding against the IBF members.

The sources added that for the accreditation of non-AAAI members, mainly comprising smaller agencies, would also bring about more interaction with such companies.

When the IBF was formed over three and a half years back, the accumulated outstanding of members, including chronic defaulters, was almost to the tune of Rs 4 billion. This amount has over a period of time been reduced to approximately Rs 900 million.

Though IBF has an internal panel monitoring surrogate advertising,
surprisingly it is quiet on tobacco and chewing tobacco ads that have been flooding the satellite channels under various garbs like mouth fresheners.

"The panel of advertising does not look at the issue of chewing tobacco ads," the IBF source admitted, adding that ,anyway, soon the health ministry would come out with a notification that would put a ban on all such promotional activities.