ASCI upholds 79 out of 100 complaints in September

The maximum violations of ASCI's code occurred in the health, personal care and education categories.

The Advertising Standard Council of India's Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), a self-regulatory industry body, has sent out a report about the complaints it upheld in September 2014.

Of the 100 complaints received, the CCC found 79 ads 'guilty' of violating its prescribed code. In the case of some of the products, it was not just the ad but also the product packaging that was found to be misleading.

Most of the complaints received were received against products that belong to the health and personal care (49 ads), education (18 ads), teleshopping (2 ads), automobile (3 ads), food & beverages (4 ads) categories.

Health care brands that these objectionable ads belong to include, Nirogi Kaya Herbs, Vini Cosmetics, Agro Tech Foods Limited (Sundrop Heart), Richfeel Trichology Centre, and Procter & Gamble (Head & Shoulders Anti Hair Fall). Many health establishments' advertisements were also found to be misleading or false or not adequately/scientifically substantiated and hence violating ASCI's Code. These include Safe Health Knee Joint Centre, Dr. Bagga, Sevabharati Hospital, Vibes (Cryolypolysis Program) and Dr. Dassan's Ayurvedic Herbal Formulations (Dr. Dassans Re Renal) and CordLife Sciences India.

In the education category, 18 ads were found to be objectionable. Some of the ads belong institutes such as Sri Venkateswara Institute Of Technology, RKDF Group of Institute (RKDF College of Engineering), EDDIFF Coaching and Sharad Tutorials.

The institutes that provide unsubstantiated claims of providing 100 per cent placement or claiming to be the No.1 in their respective fields include GHG Khalsa College, All India Ex-Serviceman Electronics and Computer Institute (AIESECI), Ratnam Coaching Centre, Deepthi Institute of Hotel Management, EFA Tally Institute of Learning, Sri Sai Coaching Centre, Uma Electronic Institute, All India Institute of Aeronautics, Karnal Group of Institutions, Bulls Eye, Pacific Academy of HR Education & Research University, Viva Academy, SRM University (SRM University School of Law) and Kshitij Classes.

In the food and beverage categories four ads were found to be misleading including Red Bull, Bacardi, Indian Mushroom Ayurved & Food Product (Mushroom AD Soup Powder) and Gold Protein Food (GPFGPF White Gold Soya Paneer).

In the automobile category three ads were found to be defaulters distorting facts which includes companies like Hyundai Motors (i20 Elite), Fiat Group (Punto) and Hero MotoCorp (Karizma ZMR).

The teleshopping category has two misleading ads by Telebrands India (Hot Shapers) and TV Teleshopping (KuberKunji).

Meanwhile Hindustan Unilever's Surf Excel Matic, Sahara India TV Network's Shri Hanuman JiCholewale and Star India 's Gumraah Season 3 were also found to be breaking the ASCI codes.