ASCI Bans 82 Ads Including L'Oreal, Amity, Uber, Flipkart And BSNL For Misleading People

Advertising industry watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 82 campaigns in June for misleading ads, including those of Flipkart, Uber, Snapdeal, Vodafone, L'Oreal, Fortis Healthcare and Pernod Ricard.

According to the Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI), it has upheld 26 complaints of misleading ads from personal and healthcare category, followed by education category with 22 ads.

Health and personal care

1. L'Oreal India P. Ltd (Garnier Pure Active Neem+ Tulsi High Foaming Facewash and New Garnier Action Facewash): The company was pulled up for its ad for its New Garnier Action Facewash and Garnier Pure Active Neem+ Tulsi High Foaming Facewash as French cosmetic major's claims were found 'ambiguous and unsubstantiated'.

alittleofeverything6.blogspot.com

2. Fortis Healthcare: ASCI also upheld a complaint against Fortis Healthcare as its ad for cosmetic surgeries does not refer to the criteria applicable for it. "... by presenting this as a 'limited period discount' offer could encourage unsafe practices. Also, the advertisement is misleading by omission of a disclaimer indicating the risk factors involved," the ad regulator said.

3. Thyrocare: It also could not substantiate its claim in its ads that nine out of ten thyroid patients are mothers.

4. Lotus Herbals Limited (Lotus Herbals Youth RX): The advertisement claims, “A firmer and younger skin in just 7 days”, “ In 4 weeks 96 percent of users have agreed that effects of ageing are almost gone”, were inadequately substantiated. 

5. Vibes Healthcare Limited: The claims in the Advertisement state, “Get a flat belly without exercising”, “Lipo Laser programs 60 minutes”, “Quick Inch Loss and Quick Weight Reduction”, “Lose up to six centimetres from Waist, Hips and Thighs”. These claims were not substantiated.

Food and Beverages

1. Borges India Pvt. Ltd. (Borges Extra Light Olive Oil): The CLAIM of Borges Extra Light Olive Oil “Borges `Extra Light Olive Oil” is false and misleading by omission. 

 2. General Mills India Pvt. Ltd (Pillsbury): The claim in the advertisement states, “…Payein bilkul ghar jaisa swaad. Yeh hai desh ki 10 mein se 9 mahilaon ka kehna” for the Pillsbury Rava Idli Mix was not substantiated.

indianlocalbazaar.com

3. Heinz India P. Ltd (Complan): The advertisement claims that Complan has 100% milk protein and comparing it versus other malt based drinks, which is misleading by implication. By choosing this comparison, it bestows an artificial advantage on milk protein based drinks and creates an impression that a better bargain is offered than truly is the case. 

4. Pernod Ricard India P. India (Seagram): Liquor major Pernod Ricard was also pulled for directly promoting a brand Seagram, which is linked to alcohol business. "The advertisement of Seagram states, 'More than a few drinks can change the meaning of U-turn', read in conjunction with the logo of Seagram and statement 'Enjoy responsibly', directly promotes a brand linked to alcohol," it added.

Educational institutions

The CCC found that claims in the advertisements by 22 advertisers were not substantiated and, thus, violated ASCI Guidelines for Advertising of Educational Institutions. Hence complaints against these advertisements were UPHELD.

1. Amity University: The advertisement claims, "Amity University ranked among the Top Universities in Asia by QS, a leading ranking organization”, was not substantiated. The advertisement claims, “Distance Learning Programmes ranked #18 worldwide by QS”, was also not substantiated.

flickr.com

2. 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.

 3. Career Launcher: The claims in the advertisement state, “3 OUT OF 5 TOPPERS IN CLAT 2015 ARE CLSTians, 7 State Toppers & Counting”, were not substantiated. The advertisement claims, “CLAT CL Nagpur Students Create History! Swarnima Mukharjee AIR 204, Shrinkhala Shikhar AIR 606, Shivani Dixit AIR 561, Darshan Gandhi AIR 1472”. These claims were not substantiated. Another claim in the advertisement, “10/10 top Ranks in MNLUAT (NLU, Mumbai) are LSTians”, was not substantiated.

 4. Green Valley High School: The claims, “17 Acre Lush Green Campus” and “20 students per class”, were not substantiated. 

 5. DPSG Dehradun: The claims, “DPSG - The Best CBSE Day Schools of India Now in Dehradun”, “DPS Ghaziabad ranked No.8 in the country”, were  not substantiated.  

 Complaints against advertisements of all educational institutes listed below mostly are UPHELD because of unsubstantiated claims that they ‘provide 100% placement/ AND/ OR they claim to be the No.1 in their respective fields’: Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KL University), KLU University, Aishwarya Educational Trust (Audisankara Group of Institute), ANIHM Institute of Hotel Management, Nalanda Education Society, Academy of Commerce, The Institute of Education and Management, RojgarMahiti Kendra, Sun Infotech and JK Group of Institute.

Media and entertainment

1. TV 18 Broadcast Ltd (CNBC): The claim in the advertisement by CNBC, “‘No. 1 TV channel in India” was not substantiated and was found to be misleading.

2. Living Media Ltd (India Today): The advertisement of India Today depicts a graph showing 4 News Channels i.e. INDIA TODAY, TIMES NOW, CNN IBN & NDTV 24*7 and in the graph.  It is displayed that INDIA TODAY is leading the market by holding 33.1 % Market share, followed by Times Now channel with 24.8 %, CNN IBN with 10.5 % and NDTV 24*7 with 10. This advertisement does not show the total market share of 100%. They also claim to be ‘No.1 English News Channel’ without any source data specified in the advertisement. By providing incorrect information for the purposes of substantiating the claim made by India Today, the advertisement is false, misleading, and disparaging to the other news channels. 

Others

1. 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," CCC said.

@Uber_Canada

2. Jasper Infotech (Snapdeal): The holding company of e-retailing firm Snapdeal was also pulled up for violating its code and depicting a visual of a man riding a bike without a helmet, which shows an unsafe practice.

3. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India: Advertisement by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India for Activa was also found "misleading by ambiguity and by omission", where the two-wheeler maker had claimed schemes of lowest down payment of Rs 5,555 and lowest instalment of Rs 999 per month.

4. Vodafone Essar: Telecom operator Vodafone Essar's claim of 'uninterrupted voice calls on 3G Network' was not substantiated before it.

5. Flipkart: The CCC has upheld two complaints against e-commerce firm Flipkart for claiming MRP of the product higher than the actual printed MRP and then offering it on discounted price. "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. This distorts facts and is therefore misleading the consumers as to actual discount being offered," CCC said.

6. BSNL: The advertisement of BSNL’s website claims, “.....NOW BSNL AT YOUR DOORSTEP…. Our Sales team will come to your Doorstep to collect documents and provide the connection”, was found false. 

(With inputs from PTI)