Companies for Not profit- Advertising Standard Council of India & Young Indian.

About Advertising Standard Council of India:

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) established in 1985, is a self-regulatory
voluntary organization of the advertising industry in India. It is a non-Government body.
ASCI is committed to the cause of self- regulation in advertising ensuring the protection
of the interest of consumers. ASCI seeks to ensure that advertisements conform to its
Code for Self-Regulation, which requires advertisements to be legal, decent, honest and
truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in competition. ASCI
looks into complaints across all media such as Print, TV, Radio, hoardings, SMS, Emailers,
Internet / web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material and point of
sale material etc.
ASCI was formed with the support of all four sectors connected with Advertising, viz.
Advertisers, Advertising Agencies, Media (including Broadcasters and the Press) and
others like PR Agencies, Market Research Companies etc.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a non-profit organization set up with
the objective of ensuring that Indian advertising is sincere, truthful and decent with a
sense of social responsibility to the consumer and to the rules of fair competition, has
been granted legal recognition by the Government of India.
ASCI has practiced self-regulation in advertising in an economical and prompt manner
since it was set up a group of advertisers, advertising agencies and the media. However,
it lacked the force of legal recognition, but now, its role has been acclaimed by various
agencies, including the government.
On August 2, 2006, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notification in
‘The Gazette of India: Extraordinary’ {Part II - Sec. 3 (i)}, deeming it necessary for all TV
commercials in India to abide by the ASCI code.
The amendment made in the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2006, now
states: “No advertisement which violates the Code for Self-Regulation in advertising, as
adopted by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Mumbai, for public
exhibition in India, from time to time, shall be carried in the cable service.”
The Consumer Complaints Council is ASCI's heart and soul. It is the dedicated work put
in by this group of highly respected people that has given tremendous impetus to the
work of ASCI and the movement of self- regulation in the advertising.
As the Code becomes increasingly accepted and observed pro-actively, three things will
begin to happen.
1. Lesser false or misleading claims
2. Fewer unfair advertisements
3. Increasing respectability
The ASCI supports some concerned associations such as the Indian Broadcasting
Foundation (IBF) to induce TV channels to implement the decisions of its CCC and abide
by its code.
Statistics suggest that up to 85 per cent of the complaints registered with the ASCI have
been redressed by either withdrawing the concerned ad or by modifying its content
appropriately.
Principles of ASCI:
The guidelines for various industries are as follows:

Jurisdiction of ASCI:
The Court observed that the district courts are empowered under the Copyright Act,
1999 (Section 62) and the Trademark Act, 1999 (Section 134) to adjudicate upon
infringement cases, however, this shall not preclude the jurisdiction of ASCI in
adjudicating upon infringement cases. The Court also recognized the role of self-
regulatory bodies in curtailing the litigation thereby providing a mechanism for amicable
settlement of disputes and also function as an alternative dispute mechanism.
Although, the ASCI has a Complaints Committee, but only to 'self-regulate'. The ASCI,
even if finds merit in complaint, can only recommend the advertiser to remove the
advertisement but has no mechanism to compel removal of the advertisement or to
grant any interim relief or to award damages.
Growing regulation of ASCI:
Till a few years ago, ASCI used to get only about 200 complaints annually. However, due
to growing consumer awareness, it rose to about 100 complaints a month. For instance,
last year, ASCI got 6,000 complaints against 2,000 advertisements. It is now in the
process of launching an App to help consumers voice their complaints against
misleading ads.
ASCI is also looking at initiatives that help making advertisements pre-compliant.
New Rules:
ACSI has pitched that brands and services need to ensure that the accrediting bodies
involved in disseminating or presenting awards or rankings are authentic and credible,
while validating their claims in advertisements.
The new guidelines, which would be effective from February 1, 2020, aim to curb the
superiority claims in advertising for the products and services based on awards and
rankings received, which sometimes misled into believing by the consumers, the ad
regulator said in a statement.
This guidelines will lend assistance to advertisers for appropriate and correct usage of
reference to awards or rankings in advertising; to ensure that their claims are not
misleading.

Some Cases:
Case 1:
 Brand- Bajaj Pulsar
 Complaint- Visuals had bikers doing extreme stunts but the disclaimer was
almost invisible. So complaint was filed keeping in consideration of the recent
bike stunt mishaps.
 CCC said that- This shows dangerous stunts without having a regard for safety
and hence some action should be taken by the brand.
 Result- Ad was modified with a clear disclaimer in the beginning itself.
Case 2:
 Brand- AXE Dark Temptation Deodorant
 Complaint- Ad is in bad taste and is vulgar, as it shows the girls licking and biting
the boy. The scene of the girl biting his backside is highly objectionable.
  CCC said that- The Visuals were indecent and likely to cause grave or widespread
offence.
 Result- Ad was modified by deleting a few scenes
Case 3:
 Brand- KFC
 Complaint- Car crashes after driver loses concentration while eating KFC product.
Showing eating while driving a car, is promoting an unsafe practice. The words
"non stop khao, non stop khilao", in conjunction with the Ad being of KFC bucket
size pack, is clear intention of advertiser promoting over/excessive consumption
of KFC, which being fried chicken has high content of fat in it.
 CCC- Visual depiction of the “driver licking his finger” implied that he has been
eating whilst driving, which could result in harm to the driver/passengers. Ad
shows a dangerous practice without justifiable reason
 Result- Ad was modified
Case 4:
 Brand- MOTOROLA
 Complaint- A father telling his son to be responsible and not to litter the house.
The son who is shown having a mobile phone (Motoyuva model) with earphones
just keeps staring at his father and increases the voice of the music on the mobile
phone therby making the voice of this father fading. Ad conveys the message that
it is cool for today’s youth to just ignore what their elders are telling them.
 CCC said that- The “behavior of the son ignoring his father”, as shown in the Ad,
was not likely to cause grave or widespread offence.
 Result- Complaint Not Valid
Case 5:
Brand- BIG BAZAAR
Complaint- Print ad has the tagline- “Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi!”. According to the
Complainant, there are items available outside, which are cheaper than what Big Bazaar
claims.
CCC said that- Claim misleading by exaggeration.
Result- The Advertiser provided comparative bills of Big Bazaar and other stores, which
proved that on a basket of commodities, they are cheaper. So no changes to the ad was
made.