ITV

Tag: Narendra Ambwani

  • Dept. of Consumer Affairs and ASCI join hands

    Dept. of Consumer Affairs and ASCI join hands

    MUMBAI: Strengthening its mission towards self-regulation in advertising, Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, has partnered with Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) to augment the efforts on stopping misleading advertisements.

     

    The collaboration will see joint efforts to evaluate and pass strictures against the violators. The six priority sectors that would be covered are: agriculture and food, health, education, housing, financial services and e-commerce.

     

    DoCA will redirect the complaints received by it to ASCI to avoid duplication of processing of complaints against advertisements that is already under process by ASCI. The complaints will be evaluated across media like print, packaging, internet, outdoor, wall paintings, posters, bill boards, etc.

     

    Commenting on the partnership, DoCA additional secretary G Gurucharan said, “The problem of misleading advertisements and the consequent unfair trade practices that arise is widespread – across sectors, mediums and geographies.  DoCA’s effort is to build a coalition of stakeholders to combat this menace – partnering with ASCI is an important step.”

     

    ASCI chairman Narendra Ambwani added, “It’s a moment of pride for ASCI to have received such support from DoCA. Earlier our work has been recognised by various government bodies like Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Medical Council of India (MCI) etc. It’s highly motivating to see such developments and this partnership has widened ASCI’s scope for complaints.”

     

    While the operational aspects of this collaboration between DoCA and ASCI is being worked upon, DoCA has requested ASCI to flag off  advertisements that are in clear violation of the law (e.g. claims regarding cure of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, sexual impotence, leucoderma (white spots), paralysis etc. covered under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act). This would enable prompt action against such non-scrupulous advertisers and protect consumer interest.

     

  • ASCI to investigate violation of code of medical ethics

    ASCI to investigate violation of code of medical ethics

    MUMBAI: Medical Council of India (MCI) backs Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for taking action against doctors whose advertisements violate the Medical Code of Ethics Regulations 2002.

     

    In its letter, The Ethics Committee of MCI has strongly backed ASCI for its efforts and self-regulatory mechanism of ensuring ethical advertising practices.

     

     ASCI has observed and processed a large number of complaints of health care products, services and clinic advertisements which has mention of or promotions of doctors. As per MCI rules, doctors cannot promote themselves in advertisements. As an immediate action, ASCI reported to MCI a list of such doctors who were resorting to advertisements in newspapers and on Television and also making misleading, false and unsubstantiated claims.  As a response to that, MCI has directed ASCI to send them a state wise list of Allopathic doctors registered with MCI/SMC who have been advertising their products or services so that appropriate action can be taken.

     

    MCI has also directed ASCI to refer to the Indian Medical Registry for obtaining details of doctors making misleading claims in their advertisements and have instructed State Medical Councils (SMC) to further investigate and take action against doctors who do not follow the Medical Council (professional conduct, etiquette & ethics) Regulations, 2002 within a period of six months. This would help MCI to take required action in accordance with the code of Medical Ethics. MCI also sought help from the ASCI to report advertisements by fake doctors to appropriate Law Enforcing Authorities of the Country.

     

    According to ASCI chairman Narendra Ambwani, “This is an important landmark for ASCI in our efforts for protecting the consumers from misleading advertising. Medical Council of India has been very supportive and has advised ASCI to ensure strict action against allopathic doctors who malign the image of medical professionals and violate the Medical Code of Ethics’.

  • Narendra Ambwani is the new chairman of ASCI

    Narendra Ambwani is the new chairman of ASCI

    MUMBAI: At the board meeting of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Agro Tech Foods director Narendra Ambwani, was unanimously elected chairman of the board.

     

    As a member of the board of governors for seven years, he has provided active support to self-regulation in the advertising movement.

     

    Benoy Roy Chawdhuri, was elected vice-chairman while Shashidhar Sinha was appointed the honorary treasurer.

     

    The other members of the new board of governors are: Hemant Bakshi, Arvind Sharma, Dilip Cherian, SK Palekar, Jayant Singh, Subhash Kamath, Srinivasan Swamy, Rajan Anandan, Shantanu Khosla, Abanti Sankarnarayanan, I Venkat, Arunabh DasSharma and Partha Rakshit.

     

    During the year 2013-14, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 41 times and considered complaints against 1937 advertisements. Of these, complaints against 1520 advertisements were upheld, while 414 were not upheld and 3 were considered non-issues.  In more than 90 per cent of the cases, where a complaint against the advertisement was upheld, the advertisements have been voluntarily withdrawn or modified as per the CCC’s decisions.

     

    The outgoing chairman of ASCI Rakshit said, “Last year has been a very eventful and successful year for us. ASCI’s effective action towards reducing the complaint processing turnaround time to just 12 days has led ASCI to win the prestigious EASA Gold Award for Best Practices. There has also been more than 90 per cent compliance towards the advertisements wherein a complaint against an advertisement was ‘upheld’. These advertisements were either withdrawn or have been appropriately modified. In a noteworthy achievement, ASCI issued guidelines on skin lightening and fairness products which ensured that these advertisements do not depict people with dark skin as somehow inferior to those who are fairer. Also recently, government took notice of ASCI’s efforts to curb Teleshopping ads that violate ASCI code and ensured a strict compliance of the advertising code in the Cable Television Networks Act (CTN).”

     

    Ambwani said, “There has been tremendous change in ASCI’s approach towards advertising content and adherence to the ASCI’s guidelines by the advertisers. Earlier, we acted primarily on complaint received from the public or the industry body. In the coming year, we hope to promote ASCI’s guidelines more vigorously among advertisers and creative agencies, so that new ads meet ASCI’s standards at the creative stage itself. We also hope to collaborate strongly with the regulators and consumer groups to ensure fairness and responsibility in advertising”

  • Arvind Sharma is new chairman of ASCI

    Mumbai: Chairman of Leo Burnett India Sub Continent Arvind Sharma has been elected as the new chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) at its board meeting held on Thursday.

    He replaces Eenadu Director I Venkat. Sharma is also the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

    Partha Rakshit Associates proprietor Partha Rakshit has been elected vice-chairman while CEO-designate of Maxus Global Vikram Sakhuja has been re-appointed the honorary treasurer.

    The other members of the new Board of Governors are: Advertisers: Narendra Ambwani (Agro Tech Foods), Hemant Bakshi (Hindustan Unilever), Rajiv Dube (Aditya Birla Management Corporation), Shantanu Khosla (Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care); Media: Rajan Anandan (Google India), Sunil Lulla (Times Global Broadcasting Co.), Benoy Roychowdhury (HT Media), I Venkat (Eenadu); Advertising Agencies: Subhash Kamath (BBH Comms India), Srinivasan Swamy (R.K. Swamy BBDO). Allied Professions: Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), Dhananjay Keskar (IBS), Pranesh Misra (Brandscapes Consultancy P. Ltd.).

    Releasing the report for 2011-12, ASCI said the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 16 times and considered 2,986 complaints against 176 advertisements. Of these, complaints against 103 ads were upheld, 69 were rejected and 4 were considered non-issues. As many as 89 ads complaints against whom were upheld were voluntarily withdrawn or modified as per the CCC‘s decisions, resulting in over 86% compliance rate.

    Venkat said, “The last year has seen ASCI take various initiatives to strengthen the Self Regulatory System. These included increasing the frequency of Consumer Complaints Council to twice a month, introduction of the Fast Track Service, having a National Conference on Strengthening Self-Regulation of Advertising Content, engaging with young Creatives through a Mobile Film Contest at the Goafest, interacting with the Department of Consumer Affairs and participating in their Conferences on Misleading Advertisements. ASC has taken a giant leap forward in introducing the National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) which monitors 1500 TV and 45000 newspaper Ads per month. All in all a very satisfying year for ASCI. ASCI is the first self regulatory body in the world to initiate monitoring of almost all newly released ads in print and TV nationally with NAMS.”

    The incoming Chairman Arvind Sharma said, “It is indeed an honour to be elected as Chairman of ASCI which has progressively contributed to effective Self-Regulation in Advertising content. We are confident that the Ad sector, industry bodies‘ regulators, consumer activists and the general public will actively seek ASCI‘s services and take Self-Regulation forward.”