Underwear ads cost channels dear

Three leading general entertainment channels - Star India, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television - together may lose Rs 11 crore (Rs 110 million) from the underwear ads, which will soon be off air.

Executives from across channels said the ban would lead to loss of revenues if the ads are not replaced as the broadcasters have sold the slots for six months.

This follows the I&B ministry decision to ban transmission or re-transmission of Lux GenX undergarment and Amul Macho underwear advertisements, finding them indecent and suggestive.

The ads had been passed by the Advertising Standards Council of India when the issue was raised a few months back. However, it is believed that the I&B Ministry on June 14 wrote to the ASCI seeking a clarification.

Sources at ASCI said the ministry sought clarification on three ads - Amul Macho underwear, Lux Cozy underwear and Lux GenX undergarment. While ASCI has upheld the telecast of Lux GenX undergarment, it found the other two ads unobjectionable.

"The same was communicated to the ministry on June 20 stating our reasons for upholding one ad while approving of the other two ads," said a source from ASCI.

This ruling by the ministry has forced advertisers to believe that the functioning of the self-regulatory body of the advertising industry - ASCI - has been overruled. "When a self-regulatory body has already looked into the matter and approved of the ads then why should the I&B ministry interfere now. This is undermining the ASCI," said a media expert.

Some members of the advertising industry have taken it with a pinch of salt. Former ASCI chairman Bharat Patel said, "The ministry has the power under the Advertising Code (prescribed under the Cable Television Act). And we will abide by the law. "

However, he added that the reason for the difference in opinion is a result of the advertising code being defined differently by the I&B and ASCI.

The code formulated by ASCI states: 'To ensure that advertisements are not offensive to generally accepted standards of public decency, advertisements should contain nothing indecent, vulgar or repulsive which is likely, in the light of generally prevailing standards of decency and propriety, to cause grave or widespread offense.'

Said a governing member of ASCI, the ads were passed to the best of our understanding, bearing in mind the ASCI code.