Indiantelevision.com Team

(2 July 2009 4:10 pm)

MUMBAI: The period between January-March 2009 saw a total of 38 ads come under the scanner, reveals the latest report from The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). While two ads out of the 38 were withdrawn, eight underwent modification.

The ads that were withdrawn include a television commercial for MakeMyTrip India and one for Coca-Cola.

According to the report, while the MakeMyTrip ad was alleged to be the very same ad film shot for 'Express Money', the Coca-Cola ad, exhibiting sparklers in a dangerous manner by a minor, manifested disregard for safety and was likely to persuade negligence.

The period also saw the discontinuation of two ads - VRS Foods Ltd (Paras Malamaal offer) and the Citibank brochure ad. In the VRS Foods ad, the claim was read in conjunction with the visual showing '4 packs of Ghee'. This was held to be misleading by ambiguity. As for the Citibank brochure ad, the value-added services offered for senior citizens account were found to be false.

Thus, the advertisers informed ASCI that the services mentioned in the old brochure were discontinued and that the new brochure did not include any such false claims.

The ad that was suspended temporarily was that of Ten Sports. The ad portrayed the channel to be the number one channel and was found to be misleading by ambiguity.

Meanwhile, the ads that underwent modification are those of Fem Care Pharma, Kent RO Water Purifier, Maruti Suzuki Swift Car, Nimbus Communications for Cricketnirvana.com, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Four Seasons Hygiene Care, Havmor Foods for Havmor Ice-Creams, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and SC Johnson products for its All-Out liquid mosquito destroyer promotion.

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld 16 ads. Three ads still await assurance from the advertisers/ad agencies ensuring that the claims will not be repeated. The CCC did not uphold 18 ads.

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