Digital ads accounted for 85 per cent of the total ads processed, reflecting a lower compliance rate of 75 per cent, compared to 97 per cent for print and TV, according to the latest annual complaints report by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
ASCI reviewed 10,093 complaints and investigated 8,299 advertisements.
The majority of violations were due to misleading claims, making up 81 per cent of the total, followed by ads promoting harmful situations or products at 34 per cent (with some ads processed for multiple objections).
ASCIs independent monitoring detected 94 per cent of the processed advertisements. Among the ads flagged by ASCI, 49 per cent were left uncontested by the advertisers. Eventually, 98 per cent of cases required modification due to violations of the ASCI Code.
This year, the healthcare sector emerged as the most frequent violator, accounting for 19 per cent of cases, followed by illegal offshore betting (17 per cent), personal care (13 per cent), conventional education (12 per cent), food and beverage (10 per cent) and real estate (7 per cent). Baby care joined the list of top violators, with influencer promotions contributing to 81 per cent of the cases.
Out of the 1575 advertisements analysed in the healthcare sector, 1249 were found to violate the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954, prompting reporting to the sector regulator. 86 per cent of healthcare ads were observed on digital platforms.
1311 advertisements promoting illegal betting were referred to the appropriate authorities for further action. Among the 1064 ads scrutinised by ASCI in the personal care sector, 95 per cent were found online, with influencer non-disclosure cases comprising over half (55 per cent) of the violations.
Celebrities continued to feature in ads breaching the ASCI code, with 101 such ads coming under ASCI's scrutiny. 91 per cent of these ads required modification. Among these, 104 celebrities were found to be in violation of celebrity guidelines due to a lack of evidence of due diligence, a requirement also mandated by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The top five categories for celebrity violations were personal care (22 per cent), food and beverages (21 per cent), illegal betting (20 per cent), healthcare (9 per cent) and durables (6 per cent).
In addition to handling objectionable ads internally, ASCI reported 3200 advertisements directly to various regulators for legal violations. This includes the 1311 ads promoting illegal offshore betting escalated to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and the 1249 healthcare ads reported to the Ministry of AYUSH for potential violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954. Other reported categories encompass real estate (493 ads), alcoholic beverages (82 ads) and tobacco and tobacco-based products (65 ads).
In response to these trends, ASCI through the ASCI Academy has launched a certification program titled 'The ‘ASCI Guide to Responsible Advertising'. The course is tailored for both students and professionals with the objective of bolstering the advertising industry, fostering ethical advertising norms, ensuring compliance with the ASCI Code and relevant regulations, and diminishing the prevalence of objectionable advertising.