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Tag: ASCIonline

  • ASCI bags gold award for mobile app ‘ASCIonline’

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has bagged the gold award for their Mobile App “ASCIonline” to receive consumer complaints against false advertisement at the Global EASA Best Practice Awards 2016.

    The Indian self-regulatory advertising watch-dog was awarded the prestigious prize at Athens on 8 May 2017 for launching the best initiative globally providing “Prompt and efficient complaint handling at no cost to the consumer”.

    The Consumer Complaint Mobile App – ASCIonline – was launched in June 2015 to provide easy and convenient access for lodging complaints, increasing ASCI’s reach across India.

    With a catchy slogan ‘Snap It and App It’, the App lets consumers’ flag complaints against offensive/misleading/vulgar advertisements. For every complaint, they get real-time auto updates within the App every time the status of the complaint is changed with regard to the progress of the complaint.

    Keeping the design and interface clean, uncomplicated, and user-friendly, ASCI has ensured to rightly “M(obile)–Power” consumers providing the utility to voice against misleading advertisements.

    This Free App which is available on android and iOS platforms continues to contribute upto 10% in the total number of complaints received even today.

    ASCI chairman Srinivasan K. Swamy said, “We are delighted to receive this esteemed honour from EASA for recognizing our efforts towards strengthening ASCI’s role in self-regulation in the country. Continuing with the mission to protect consumers’ interest, ASCI embraced technology to connect with the consumers and curb misleading advertisements. This pathbreaking initiative has spurred expand ASCI’s reach significantly across many smaller cities and towns. The App was also referred to by Government Departments in India and appreciated for the pro-activeness of ASCI. After three successive wins in the past, acquiring another Gold has further provided cognisance for the SRO on an International platform as well.”

    ASCI is now a part of the Executive Committee of the International Council on Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS), which unites global Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) and international Industry Associations to form a powerful body that will facilitate the establishment of new SROs in emerging markets, help empower them and provide a platform to discuss and work on solutions regarding the global challenges faced for self-regulation in advertising.

  • ASCIonline gets 15% complaints registrations via new mobile app

    ASCIonline gets 15% complaints registrations via new mobile app

    MUMBAI: The ASCIonline mobile app, in just two months of launch, has seen a boost in the number of complaints received. Complaints through the mobile app, now contribute to almost 15 per cent of the total number of complaints received by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

     

    The app has surpassed 1000 downloads within just two months since its launch on 17 June, 2015. 

     

    ASCIonline mobile app facilitates convenient filing of complaints against misleading advertisements. The app has received a 4.0 /5 star rating by users and some positive feedback.

     

    ASCI chairman Narendra Ambwani said, “ASCI’s priority for the year was improving its reach to    provide a super-fast and convenient access for consumers to lodge complaints and to increase ASCI’s reach across India trickling down to smaller towns.”   

     

    While the web-based online complaint registration system has been functional for over three years, the mobile app has broken the “reach” barrier. With the dramatic and ever growing increase in smartphone penetration and its use for various transactions, the mobile app has been a great enabler for end consumers. Analysis of complaints received via mobile app is the real “proof of the pudding.”

     

    “We have received complaints from more than 15 different states and cities like Darjeeling, Thiruwallur, Almora, Bikaner, Jalandhar, Hingoli etc. Not only that, consumers have complained against advertisements from a wide range of sectors such as education, FMCG, healthcare, telecom, e-commerce, durables, automotive, food and beverages, and across media beyond  print and TV, such as website, radio, SMS, emailers, promotional materials, product packaging and app ads,” informed Ambwani.

     

    For promoting the mobile app, ASCI coined the “SnapItandAppIt” tagline as the app allows one to take a picture of the objectionable ad and send it through the app to ASCI. Social media is being leveraged to create awareness. Prasar Bharati also took note of this mobile app and actively supported this by tweeting about the app. Even industry stalwarts and twitteratis like Google MD Rajan Anandan, RK Swamy BBDO MD SK Swamy, Intradia head catalyst Sanjeev Kotnala, Provacateur director Paritosh Joshi created a buzz, causing a ripple effect.

     

    With ASCIonline app, the body has engaged thousands of ASCI ambassadors who are ASCI’s eyes and ears and would put a check on erring advertisers and push for “Responsible Advertising.”

  • ASCI launches mobile app to curb misleading ads

    ASCI launches mobile app to curb misleading ads

    MUMBAI: Continuing with its mission to address misleading advertisements, Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) has launched India’s first consumer complaint mobile App – ASCIonline, to provide consumer complaint services on a mobile phone besides providing the facility online. The mobile app is currently available on Android and iOS.

     
    ASCI chairman Narendra Ambwani said, “One of the goals of ASCI is to provide convenient access for lodging complaint and hence this launch of mobile app. Today mobiles devices are more widely used compared to desktops. With growing use of smart phones consumers want apps to put power of doing transactions in their pocket. ASCIonline mobile app is consumer friendly and can be freely downloaded. It will be very useful as one can track the status of the complaints which he or she registered on our portal with the help of the app.”

    Some of the key features of the app are as follows: 

     

    1)    Lodge complaint: Lodge complaints by simply providing advertisement details and objection. Users can also attach the files like image or video or YouTube link of that advertisement.

     

    2)    History: Check the history of all previously registered complaints with the latest status and all other details.

     

    3)    Complaint Tracking: Simply track the status of the complaints by providing the tracking code of the complaint.

     

    4)    Manage profile: Manage profile and contact details.

     

    5)    Push Notifications: Receive the automatic push notifications when status of your complaint gets changed.

     

    6)    Accessibility: It’s always on and connected.