As part of the 100-day plan, the BJP-led NDA government is acting fast to protect consumer interests and is working on releasing guidelines concerning surrogate advertisements, pesky and unsolicited calls, and greenwashing, said sources close to the development.
Comprehensive and elaborative in nature, the surrogate ads guidelines are very soon to be released and are almost finalised by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA). The guidelines will be issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and the draft will be open for public comments and feedback.
In its guidelines for ‘Prevention of Misleading Advertisements’ issued in December 2022, CCPA defined “surrogate advertisement” as an advertisement for goods, product or service, whose advertising is otherwise prohibited or restricted by law, by circumventing such prohibition or restriction and portraying it to be an advertisement for other goods, product or service, the advertising of which is not prohibited or restricted by law.
The current CCPA guidelines note that: an advertisement shall be considered to be a surrogate advertisement or indirect advertisement, if– (a)such advertisement indicates or suggests directly or indirectly to consumers that it is an advertisement for the goods, product or service whose advertising is prohibited or restricted by law;(b)such advertisement uses any brand name, logo, colour, layout and presentation associated with such goods, product or services whose advertisement is prohibited or restricted. Provided that mere use of a brand name or company name which may also be applied to goods, product or service whose advertising is prohibited or restricted shall not be considered to be surrogate advertisement or indirect advertisement, if such advertisement is not otherwise objectionable as per the provisions set out in these guidelines.
However, CCPA continues to identify and observe multiple instances where liquor brands are violating these regulations.
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Rohit Kumar Singh, former Secretary DoCA, has earlier said that surrogate advertisements that promote products in restricted categories undermine consumer rights and can have serious implications. Speaking at an event in February, he said that there is a pressing need to halt the proliferation of surrogate ads across industries. If respective prohibited industries fail to adhere to this guideline and comply with existing laws, more stringent actions will be implemented.
“We are committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders as we navigate through this evolving issue. We look forward to providing all assistance to ASCI in examining this issue and building a comprehensive framework to protect consumers,” he noted.
Surrogate advertising remains a concern for restricted categories. In the last three years, ASCI processed complaints against 49 ads for potential violation of ASCI Code’s Guidelines for Qualification of Valid Brand Extension. Among these, 36 ads were alcohol related, 12 ads from betting platforms and 1 Pan Masala ad that potentially violated the guidelines. Alarmingly, 98% of these processed ads required modification to align with regulatory standards. Over the last three years, ASCI has also reported 1085 cases of advertisements that were in direct violation of law to both central and state regulators. 765 of these were illegal betting ads and 320 were direct liquor advertising.
ASCI has regularly refined its guidelines particularly considering the potential harm associated with advertising of these categories. The latest update implemented in December 2023, emphasises that advertising spends for legitimate brand extension products must align with the extension’s sales turnover.
To curb misleading ads, in November, CCPA has sent notices to 20 IAS coaching institutes for misleading ads and imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Byju’s for such misleading ads.
That apart, Storyboard18 earlier broke the news that DoCA has already constituted a committee comprising of representatives from DoT, TRAI, COAI, BSNL, Vodafone Idea, Reliance and Airtel to draft guidelines to address the issue of unsolicited calls. Based on such deliberations and suggestions, draft guidelines have been framed. DoCA seeks views and suggestions of the public on the proposed guidelines within 30 days, i.e. 21st July.