New DelhiI: Advertising industry watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 105 campaigns in October for misleading ads, including those by Mahindra & Mahindra, HUL, Philips, Procter & Gamble and e-commerce firms as Snapdeal, flipkart, goibibo.
Out of those 105 campaigns found violating norms, 44 belonged to personal and healthcare category, followed by the education category with 43 advertisements, the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) said in a statement.
The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) concluded Mahindra & Mahindra has violated guideline and its ad campaign for its utility vehicle Bolero Maxitruck Plus.
“The advertisement claims that a new Bolero Maxitruck Plus is stronger than three ‘Chota Hatti’. The comparisons made in the advertisement were not substantiated, and were likely to mislead the consumers about the product advertised and ones with which it is compared,” ASCI said.
It has also pulled up e-tailers as flipkart, goibibo for misleading the general public by not properly mentioning about the discount.
CCC had found flipkart’s ad claiming flat 90 per cent off as “misleading as the TVC did not mention that the offer is on limited stock”.
Similarly, goibibo’s flat 20 per cent off on international flights was also found to be misleading.
A complaint against TV ad of Snapdeal was also upheld for making “derogatory reference to women” in its campaign.
“In this advertisement a boy is telling the audience that my girlfriend’s sister is very cute. When we go outside she always come with us, absolutely free. Just like Snapdeal Diwali bumper sale in which a product is absolutely free with another. The TVC makes a derogatory reference to women and refers to women as a commodity,” CCC said.
It also found ad campaign of Tata Teleservices for its Docomo Photon Max Wi-Fi as violative, where it has claimed consistent high speeds.
“… was not substantiated with test reports from independent third party. Also, the Advertiser did not provide substantiation of actual speed achieved in real conditions and in several locations within the cities quoted in the advertisement,” it said.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was also pulled for its campaign of Fair & Lovely claiming that product marketed in India gives better results than other fairness creams marketed in Dubai, Singapore and Japan.
“The advertisement is misleading by exaggeration and implication that the advertised product is unbeatable with all the products in those countries,” it said.
Procter & Gamble’s also failed to substantiate ad of its Pantene Pro V shampoo & conditioner claiming “Ultimate Split-End Protection” and “3 month Split End Protection”.
Complaint against consumer electronic firm Philips was also upheld after it failed to substantiate the claims made by it for Quad High Definition (QHD) of its GSM handphone W6610.
