ASCI starts `clean ads’ campaign

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is in the midst of a major campaign to educate the public on how to deal with misleading or otherwise improper advertisements.

ASCI last week also pulled up 15 major consumer goods and service companies, including Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Dabur, Elder Pharma, and coaching centre Career Launcher, for running misleading or otherwise improper ad campaigns between July and October this year.

''We wanted to simply the process of complaining against an advertisement and now the complaint can be registered on the telephone. The print ads have already started coming out and the television ads are scheduled for next week,'' Allan Collaco, Secretary General, ASCI, told domain-b.com.

ASCI's campaign consists of print and television advertisements, hoardings, banners and posters. ASCI officials have also started giving lectures and presentations at schools and colleges to introduce the campaign and garner support from the country's youth.

The creatives for the campaign are bold, talk direct and are clear with the consumers. Use of red in the background makes the message tone clear. The message is short, simple and straightforward – ''If you think an advertisement is misleading, dishonest or indecent, contact ASCI''. The advertisement then goes on to state its postal address, telephone numbers, website and email ID.

Leading TV channels, newspapers and other media are expected to carry the ads pro bono to show their commitment to the self regulation movement in India.