Television ads making highly exaggerated and ambiguous claims are quite common. Crashing down on such big brands which mislead consumers, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) under the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has banned 82 advertisements.





In June 2015, ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) received 148 complaints across segments during, of which 26 belonged to the Personal and Healthcare category, followed by 22 advertisements in the Education category, 9 advertisements in Food and Beverage category, 7 advertisements in media and entertainment category and 18 advertisements from other categories.

The banned ads are from prominent brands like including Flipkart, BSNL, Uber, Vodafone and Snapdeal. According to the report published by ASCI, here are the reasons behind some of these bans –

Flipkart Internet Private Limited: The website communication claims the MRP of the product as Rs.799, when actual printed MRP on product is Rs. 399 which is being offered as the discounted price for Canvera. The website communication claims the MRP of the product as Rs. 999, when actual printed MRP on product is Rs. 449 which is being offered as the discounted price for OBS. This distorts facts and is therefore misleading the consumers as to actual discount being offered.

Uber: The advertisement by Uber states, “You drink, we drive”, when read in conjunction with the depiction of logos of Bars such as Zara etc. as #UBERAPPROVED PARTNERS, was seen to promote alcohol drinking.

Jasper Infotech P. Ltd. (Snapdeal.com): The advertisement of Snapdeal.com depicts a visual of “a man riding a bike without a helmet” shows an unsafe practice.

Aakash Institute: The advertisement shows the visual of “a boy pillion riding a bike without a helmet” which depicts an unsafe practice.

BYJU’s Classes: The advertisement claims, “Announcing excellent success ratio in our first IIT batch with 161 of 212 students clearing JEE Mains” and “Get classes from India’s best teachers”, were not substantiated with data. In addition, the claim “Bangalore’s Biggest Scholarship Test for 7th to 12th Class students”, was not substantiated with comparative data.

Amity University: The advertisement claims, “Amity University ranked among the Top Universities in Asia by QS, a leading ranking organization”, was not substantiated.

Image Credit : MoneyLife

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