ASCI upholds 114 out of 144 complaints in April

The maximum number of complaints was recorded in the health and personal care segment, followed by education.

The Advertising Standards Council of India's Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), a self-regulatory industry body, has upheld complaints against 114 out of the total of 144 ads, in the month of April 2015. These advertisements were found guilty of violating the prescribed norms.

60 of the total upheld complaints belonged to the personal and healthcare category, followed by 30 in the education category, eight advertisements in food and beverages category and the remaining 16 from others.

In the personal and healthcare category, violators include Lotus Herbal, VLCC, Navjeevan Hospitals, Ayur Care, Colgate-Palmolive and Dr. Batra's Health Clinic, among many others. Most healthcare brands were found making unsubstantiated claims.

In the education category, coaching centres and college advertisements were seen violating the code. Organisations like Liberty Career Academy, Ambition Career Institute, Vignan Institute of Technology & Science, Academy of Commerce, New Delhi Institute of Management, LawPrep Tutorial, AJK College of Science and Arts and Grey Matters are among the defaulters.

Big players like Cola-Cola, Kellogg's, Bihar State Milk Co-operative Federation, Pernod Ricard (Seagram) and others like Ruchi Soya, Miraj Namkeen, Vitromed Healthcare (Vitro Naturals) had released objectionable ads in the food and beverages category.

Other notable names like Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular (Idea Internet Network), Zee Media (Zee Business), Multi Screen Media (Sony Six), Rupa (Macrowomen), Bajaj Auto (New Pulsar RS 200), Galaxy S5, Xerion (Jabong.com), Times Internet (Magicbricks.com), Bharti Airtel, Lava International (Lava Iris 8) were also found to have launched misleading ads.