ASCI rules against 5 misleading ads, including 3 newspaper brand claims
21 Dec 2010
The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld complaints against five advertisements released in September 2010.
Among the ten advertisements, which were brought under its scanner, the council upheld complaints against newspaper brands Prabhat Khabar, DNA and NaiDunia as also FMCG brand Sprite and liquor brand McDowell's No 1.
The complaint against the daily newspaper Prabhat Khabar was that it claimed to hold the No1 position in Jharkhand by citing data from the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) for the July-December 2009 period.
CCC found that the ABC results for the said duration did not reflect Prabhat Khabar's claims of being No1 in Jharkhand as the claim was not substantiated by the ABC report taking into account its circulation in Jamshedpur. The advertiser has discontinued the advertisement.
Similarly, in the case of DNA, the CCC found that DNA's claims of being 'The No1 daily for the independent people', 'The No1 daily for the new Indian', 'The No1 daily for the people's voice', and 'The No1 daily for tomorrow's leader' were not substantiated by any data or research from any independent organisation. The said advertisement was suspended by the advertiser.
In case of NaiDunia, the advertiser's assurance of compliance was still awaited by the ASCI.