Few people have left the kind of imprint on India's advertising canvas as Piyush Pandey. An observer who seemed to know what made the country tick, a man who could find humour in life's everyday struggles and spin magic from it, one who understood that to reach the masses you needed to communicate with them in their language and context -- he was all of this and more.
Across the board, brands use influencers like a Bhuvan Bam or Kusha Kapila as the second or third rung of their strategy. The first rung is always a celebrity that has been created outside the Internet, through mainstream media.
The court said a social media influencer is expected not to try to play the role of a professional without any backing to substantiate what is being shared by them.
Sebi's mandate restraining mutual funds, stock brokers, and other intermediaries from associating with finfluencers who do not come under the Sebi ambit will impact the earnings of finfluencers through sponsorships, tie-ups, or referral links, as these may dry up due to the restrictions.
Maximum cases of advertisement norms violations were reported from the healthcare sector during 2023-24, followed by illegal offshore betting and personal care categories, according to the Advertising Standards Council of India's (Asci's) Annual Complaints Report released on Wednesday. The healthcare sector accounted for a maximum 19 per cent or 1,569 of 8,229 advertisements scrutinised by Asci during the year. Illegal offshore betting accounted for 17 per cent, while the share of personal care advertisements was 13 per cent.
Advertisements of charitable organisations and crowdsourcing platforms must not disrespect the dignity of the beneficiaries by showing their graphic images, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) said in its guidelines for charitable causes released on Thursday. Additionally, these ads must disclose how much of the raised funds would be used as fee by the platform, it added. Acknowledging that crowdsourcing platforms provide reach through ads and organic posts to beneficiaries by helping them tap potential donors, Asci said: "There have been some concerns about ads that create donor distress through the use of images that may be too graphic."
Showing the power social media influencers hold in the advertising industry today, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday said 70 per cent of Indians are likely to buy a product they endorse. In its "Influencer Trust Report," based on a survey of 820 respondents above 18, ASCI said that 79 per cent of respondents trust social media influencers. Out of these, thirty per cent trust the influencers "completely".
The government will soon come out with guidelines for social media influencers, making it mandatory for them to declare their association with the product they endorse, sources said.
The Bombay high court on Monday asked three Jain religious charitable trusts and a city resident practising Jainism why they were seeking to encroach on the rights of others by appealing for restrictions or ban on advertisements for meat and meat products in print and electronic media.
Education, healthcare and personal care are the most violative categories of ads, according to the annual complaints report of India's advertising regulator for the last financial year. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Tuesday released its annual complaints report for April 2021-March 2022, taking into account print, television and digital media as it processed 5,532 ads - a sharp rise of 62 per cent from 2020-21. It processed 7,631 complaints - an increase of 25 per cent from last year. Of these, 75 per cent were taken up suo motu by the regulatory body's own artificial intelligence-based tracking system.
Greenwashing is making misleading or false environment-friendly claims about a product. Consumers in India currently do not have any way of telling whether a claim is authentic or greenwashing. And one never hears of action against any company for making false claims of being environment-friendly.
The videos of the perfume brand Layer Shot sparked outrage among a large section of social media users, who claimed the advertisement sought to promote sexual violence against women.
More than 6,000 URLs, accounts or websites were blocked in 2021, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
The advertisement is unnecessarily misleading the consumer and also derogatory and denigrating to the oil industry, SEA said
The watchdog feels that the claims are not real.
While the move has been welcomed by the ad industry as well as consumer activists, many still complain that advertisers do not take ASCI rulings seriously, and instead choose to move court to seek relief or press charges against a rival for an offending ad.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has rapped the fast moving consumer goods majors Hindustan Unilever and Paras Pharma for their objectionable deodorant commercials, and asked them to pull them off air.
Advertisers will have to put a disclaimer while promoting the "highly risky" and unregulated cryptocurrencies from April 1, a self-regulatory body for the industry said on Wednesday. All virtual digital assets (VDAs), which are commonly referred to as crypto or non-fungible tokens (NFTs), will have to put the disclaimer in a "prominent and unmissable" way in campaigns for products and services, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said. The announcement of the guidelines, done after consultations with industry stakeholders, government and financial regulators as well, comes as the advertising for the controversial products and services is on the upswing.
The government on Friday came out with new guidelines to prevent misleading advertisements, including those targeting children and making free claims to woo consumers.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is cracking down on recent men's deodorant commercials, calling them 'overtly sexual' and looking to take them off the air. Do you find these commericals offensive and inappropriate for TV audiences too?
During the said period, the Consumer Complaints Council of ASCI found 15 advertisers, including Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular, fast moving consumer goods player Dabur and Elder Pharma and coaching centre Career Launcher, violating the council's code.
Advertising body upholds contention that Career Launcher's claim is unsubstantiated.
Onida's entry into mobile phones a year and a half ago has been a low-key affair. But not any longer, courtesy its television advertisement which plays on the brand name Nokia phonetically.
DTH major Tata Sky has approached the Advertising Standards Council of India seeking action against its competitor Airtel Digital's ad campaign, alleging that the advertisement was misleading.
Raymond, the Singhania family-controlled textile and apparel manufacturer, had slapped a notice against the city-based footwear retailer for showing a man wearing suit with a tagline The Incomplete Man. In a letter written to ASCI, Raymond had pointed out that the company has been using the tagline for several decades and it is inseparable from its brand.
The four 'gaushalas' or cow shelters will work on improving productivity of Indian cows up to 10 times
However, the two ads in question were cleared by the Advertising Standards Council of India, the self-regulatory body of the advertising industry.
FMCG players -- Dabur, HLL, PSU BPCL, Korean car maker Hyundai, liqour barron Vijay Malaya's Mcdowell and TVS motors -- are among the major companies found to violate Advertising Standards Council of India code.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government is working out a new Bill on cryptocurrency which will be placed in the ongoing session of Parliament after approval of the Union Cabinet. The ongoing winter session is scheduled to end on December 23. Replying to a series of questions in the Rajya Sabha, she said the new Bill takes into account the rapidly changing dimensions in virtual currency space, and incorporate features of the earlier Bill that could not be taken up.
The Advertising Standards Council of India has found Reliance Infocomm's advertisements on WLL telephony misleading for not mentioning conditions applicable with schemes and giving false information on services like roaming.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
'Why is the government asking parents to be careful rather than coming up with strict rules and regulations for the companies?'
An advertisement showing two women talking about Cars24's promise that you can test drive the car and return it with full refund in seven days if it doesn't work for you has upset a section of men. In the ad, the women say there should be such a policy for husbands, too. "Will same return policy be taken so laughingly as this one if we reverse the #gender? (sic)" asks a complainant to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Another complaint, this time against a FreshToHome ad, reads: "Suggest to ban gory and repulsive photos of animal parts in ads - just as photos of accident victims."
Newly formed CCPA will now regulate false and misleading advertising and also take action to punish offenders, whether through fines, discontinuance, alteration of the ad, or even jail. ASCI as a voluntary, self-regulatory body, had no legal powers to enforce its actions.
Do away with the grey, and let us have it in black and white. That's the message the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has for digital media influencers. ASCI has brought out draft guidelines for "influencer advertising on digital media", an expanding and so far unmonitored landscape where the lines between personal and promotional content is often blurred. The self-regulatory body wants social media influencers to disclose upfront - through labels or in the case of audio media, by way of an announcement at the beginning and the end of the audio - that the content is promotional and paid for.
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL), led by Sanjay Kirloskar, on Tuesday accused four firms under his brothers Atul and Rahul of trying to "usurp" its legacy of 130 years and trying to mislead the public, which has been refuted by the other side. As the family feud simmers, KBL in a letter to capital markets regulator Sebi claimed that recent press releases by Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd (KOEL), Kirloskar Industries Ltd (KIL), Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Ltd (KPCL) and Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd (KFIL) "have sought to usurp the legacy" of KBL. Also, they attempted to pass off the legacy and track record of KBL as that of their own, the letter said.
Sebamed's campaign for its cleansing bar of the same name, released across print, television, digital and outdoor, has also named Santoor, a popular soap brand from Wipro Consumer Care.
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