Government Aims To Curb Misleading Ads; Studies Foreign Codes

A new advertising code will be released soon by the ministry of consumer affairs mentioning the do’s and don’ts in advertising. This will eventually help to identify the misleading advertisements circulating around various platforms. Advertisers from now onwards cannot make big claims such as ‘largest-selling’, ‘most popular’, and ‘most effective’, particularly in the case of Health products.

As per the source, the ministry is trying to implement the best advertisement code taken from other countries like New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“A draft discussion paper will be uploaded on our website for stakeholder consultation. There is a need to have a code for the benefit of consumers and also to help identify quickly which fall under the misleading category, otherwise, there will be a sea of complaints about misleading advertisements,” said an official.

Advertising Standards Council of India is a self-regulatory voluntary organization in the advertising industry that has framed a code for self-regulation in Advertising which is rigid in itself. The need for a new code was felt after the center had informed the central consumer protection authority about misleading advertisements. “There is a need to bring the proposed under the regulation for their effective compliance. Simple guidelines won’t have the desired impact,” a source said.

In the case of Celebrity endorsers, the Act specifies that the company must be clear with its contents and claims to the endorsers.
Countries that follow a strong consumer protection rule specifies that the codes are framed in order to make sure that every advertisement displayed must be legal and truthful on its claims.