Education category largest violator of advertising code, says ASCI report

By: Anshul Vipat

The education sector accounted for nearly one-third of complaints about misleading advertisements in 2021-22

According to the watchdog, a total of 5,532 ads were processed across print, digital, and television, of which the digital domain saw an overall compliance rate of 94%. This was a whopping 62 percent more than the previous year, with a 25 percent increase in complaints. Around 48 percent of the total ads were from digital, with categories like cryptocurrency, gaming and e-commerce taking centre stage, while the rest of the complaints came from print and TV.

To put it in perspective, between January and May 2022, more 400 ads were flagged by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) that violated the guidelines. Out of the total 7,631 complaints processed by the agency, 75 percent were taken up suo motu by its artificial intelligence-based tracking system, while consumer complaints made up 21 percent, a sharp rise of 186.5 per cent. Complaints regarding misleading claims in ads featuring celebrities saw a 41% increase out of which a staggering 92 percent were found to be violating ASCI’s guidelines. The ads monitored belonged to three categories — those that drew complaints from viewers, those flagged by the industry, and those noticed by the ASCI suo motu.

According to the report, as many as 33 percent of “objectionable or misleading” ads monitored by ASCI were found to be from the education sector, primarily pertaining to edtech enterprises. 16 percent of the ads were from the healthcare sector, and 11 percent from personal care. 8 percent of the ads were from newer categories like crypto and gaming.

In India, if any consumer finds a misleading advertisement he/she can lodge complaints at the GAMA (Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements) portal which then gets forwarded to ASCI who then issues advisories to the companies. The body can either warn the makers or suspend an add until a probe is conducted.

Following a recent controversy over a perfume add, the government had issued new guidelines to prevent misleading advertisements. The new guidelines also prohibit surrogate advertisements and have brought transparency in disclaimers in ads. They also aim to address the issue of misleading ads and endorsements aired during programming meant for children.