HUL, Bharti Airtel, Flipkart amongst companies ASCI upholds for misleading advertisements

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld complaints against 54 campaigns for misleading advertisements during September out of total 84 complaints received.
Of the ads that violated ASCI’s code in September, majority were from the health and personal care segment(13), followed by education(7) and telecom and broadband category(7), ecommerce category(6), and and 15 advertisements from other categories, as per an official release released by ASCI.
In the telecom sector, the CCC has validated five complaints against leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel, out of which four was for promotions of its 4G services and one was for broadband service.
“The claim offer of, ‘Get the same data benefits as your 3G pack and enjoy superfast 4G speeds at no extra cost; Free 4G Upgrade’ was found misleading by omission of a disclaimer qualifying that the benefits offered under retail plans are not available to users under corporate plans,” ASCI said in its release.
It also found the claim of unlimited calls, unlimited movies, unlimited music and loads of data, offered in Airtel 4G — My Plan Infinity as “false and misleading.”
Similarly, FMCG major HUL was pulled for its Lux Scented Gold offer and Dove Elixir. HUL’s Dove Elixir advertisement’s claim, “Coconut oil penetrates only through 1 layer in 30 minutes via visual representation” was found to be false and misleading. HUL’s another claim for Lux Scented Gold offer — “Pehli baar scented gold jewellery chupi hai hasaro lux mein” was also considered misleading.
Other brands in FMCG sector included Marico Limited, Tapan Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd, Godrej consumer Products Ltd, among others.
In the E-commerce category, Flipkart was pulled up for two of its claims by ASCI. Flipkart had on its website claimed the MRP of Tek-Tron velroc safety outdoor shoes as Rs. 599, while actual printed MRP on the product was Rs. 499 and offered on discounted price.
“This distorts facts and is therefore misleading the consumers as to actual discount being offered,” CCC said.
Another claim by Flipkart in the mailer, “Research shows that beautiful women are more successful in their lives”, was also not substantiated.