Advertisement body pulls up Coke, Airtel for misleading ads

The ASCI, regulatory body of advertisement, pulled up major companies for misleading advertisements and put 143 advertisements under the category. The companies like Coca-Cola India, Bharti Airtel have been pulled up by the body.

Mobikwik, HUL, Nivea, Amul, Opera, Standard Chartered Bank and Pernod Ricard are among the companies against which a total of 191 complaints were received by Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for January.

ASCI upheld a total of 102 complaints in healthcare category, 20 in education, seven in personal care, six in food and beverages and eight advertisements from other categories.

According to ASCI, Apple India was found using a wrong image in its advertisement for iPhone 7.

“The advertisement text states ‘The amazing iPhone 7 is here’, but shows an image of iPhone 7 Plus variant, which is misleading by ambiguity and implication,” said ASCI.

The sector watchdog said although the advertisement had the Apple trademark with ‘iPhone7’ but said it didn’t have any reference to ‘series’ in the advertisement text.

“In absence of any visual of iPhone 7 variant, it was concluded that the advertisement is likely to mislead the consumers about the product advertised and its corresponding features,” it said.

Comments from Apple could not be obtained. ASCI also upheld a complaint against Coca-Cola India for Thums Up campaigne, in which the soft drink major has showcased a rider performing a wheelie in normal streets, traffic conditions, right amongst a few people.

“This is contradictory to the disclaimer made in the advertisement ?- the actions are for representational purposes alone and must not be copied by viewers... It was concluded that though the overall advertisement is not objectionable, regardless of the disclaimer the specific visual... encourages dangerous practices, manifests a disregard for safety and encourages negligence,” it said.

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When contacted, a Coca-Cola India spokesperson said: “On receiving feedback, we have on boarded suggestions from ASCI and modified the TV commercial (TVC). The revised TVC has been updated on air and on digital media.”

Similarly, it has also pulled FMCG major HUL for its advertisement of Rin Antibac, where it had claimed that the detergent powder with Ayurvedic extracts removes germs.

However, ASCI said the claim “was not substantiated, and is misleading by implication and exaggeration as the advertised product does not have the property to provide germ protection in wear conditions”.