In October 2015, ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 51 out of 98 advertisements. Out of 51 advertisements against which complaints were upheld, 16 belonged to the Personal and Healthcare category, followed by 19 advertisements in the Education category, 5 in Telecommunication and Broadband category and 11 advertisements from other categories.
Among the telecommunication and broadband service providers, complaints against the advertisements such as BhartiAirtel for its Airtel 4G, Reliance Communication for its Reliance Pro3, Aircel for its Free Coupons, were upheld.
Apart from these, complaints against the advertisement of Times Global Broadcasting, Lenskart, Amazon, were also upheld.
The CCC found the following claims in health and personal care product or service advertisements of 15 advertisers to be either misleading or false or not adequately / scientifically substantiated and hence violating ASCI’s Code. Some of the health care products or services advertisements also contravened provisions of the Drug & Magic Remedies Act and Chapter 1.1 and III.4 of the ASCI Code. The complaints against the advertisements of brands such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive,Dabur India Patanjali Ayurved etc. were upheld.
In educational sector, the CCC found that claims in the 19 advertisements were not substantiated and, thus, violated ASCI Guidelines for Advertising of Educational Institutions. Hence complaints against these advertisements were upheld.
