ASCI upholds complaints against 132 misleading advertisements

Mumbai: Advertising sector watchdog on Monday said it upheld complaints against 132 advertisements in May this year, including those of Tetley Green Tea, Tang, iPhone XS, among others.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) examined complaints against 231 advertisements, of which 67 were promptly withdrawn, a statement said.

ASCI's independent Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 132 advertisements, out of 164 advertisements evaluated by them. Of these 132 advertisements, 69 belonged to the education sector, 41 to the healthcare sector, two from personal care, four from food and beverage, while 16 were from other category.

It pulled up Mondelez India's Tang ad claim of children should drink eight glasses of water...difficult but there is Tang, as it insinuated that eight glasses of Tang should be consumed.

The CCC also expressed concern on the emphasis placed on using the advertiser's product in place of water.

"The claim was misleading by implication and in contravention of the ASCI guidelines for advertising of foods and beverages," it said while adding that the tagline 'goodness of fruits and vitamins' implied that the benefits offered by the product were much more than fruit taste alone, which was misleading by ambiguity and implication.

Similarly, it noted that Tata Global Beverages' Tetley Green Tea's print advertisement claimed '9/10 users prefer Tetley Green Tea for an active life' while the video advertisement used the word 'recommend' which was contrary to the print advertisement.

"The users were not provided with samples of other brand products to enable them to have a preference; the words 'prefer' and 'recommend' are misleading by implication. The use of the word 'Active Life' misleads one to think that use of the product alone would be sufficient to achieve an 'Active Life'.

Lastly, the quality of the survey conducted was found to be inadequate as there was ample reason to question fair and unbiased communication of information in the advertisement," it said.

ASCI also pulled up Santoor Aloe Fresh Soap's print advertisement claim of lemon removing stickiness which helps to remain fresh and young as misleading by implication.

It found Apple iPhone XS advertisement misleading by ambiguity and implication as the ad featuring shots of the nature would lead consumer to believe that the image quality, as depicted in the advertisement, would be feasible on the iPhone XS alone, whereas in reality, the result would not be achievable without making additional purchases.

"The CCC did not agree with the advertiser's contention that the claim is qualified with the disclaimer in the advertisement as this was in contravention of the ASCI's guidelines on disclaimers in advertising," it said.