Industry On Patanjali Row: The Brand Will Not Be Missed
A few days back, the Supreme Court had issued a notice for contempt against Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director, Acharya Balakrishnan. This action follows their alleged violation of a prior court order, which prohibits misleading advertising that claims the ability to cure serious diseases or makes assertions against allopathy, etc.
In addition to issuing the notice, the Supreme Court imposed a temporary restriction on Patanjali Ayurved from promoting any content asserting the cure of diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, fevers, epilepsy, and lupus. This directive aligns with the provisions outlined in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954.
This is not the first time that Patanjali has been accused on the pretext of misleading advertisements.
In November, last year, the Supreme Court cautioned the company for disseminating misleading claims and advertisements targeting modern medical systems. In response to a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) challenging deceptive advertising practices, the court asserted the authority to levy fines of up to Rs 1 crore on each product making false claims about its capacity to 'cure' a particular disease.
The next day, post a strong caution from the Supreme Court, the company refuted the claims, stating that it was not engaging in any "misleading advertisements or propaganda" concerning its products.
BW Marketing World spoke to various experts on their views about Patanjali getting into a legal row more than one time and about brands being pulled up the law often, very recently, for getting into the misleading ads space.
The Patanjali Row
Lloyd Mathias - Business Strategist and Independent Director believes that this is definitely a big setback to Patanjali. One, because these are very big strictures coming directly from the court. This is not about being pulled up by ASCI or any other industry body. This is a court stricture. And this has come out of a petition filed by the medical association. So this is a very severe one. And also, the kind of penalties that the court is threatening to impose on both Baba Ramdev and Acharyaji, is quite significant.
It's a big setback. I think it also is a very clear message from the regulatory authorities, the court especially, that you can't take these things very lightly. So poo-pooing allopathic medicine wasn’t a great idea and this is something that the court has rightly taken a very tough stand on. I hope that it will force Patanjali to relook at the ethical side of the advertising. There's one thing that every brand tries to make claims to push its celebrity, its products; but at the same time, I think these have to be verified. The sanctity of these claims have to be 100 per cent - that part is something that they need to severely look at.”
Tarun Singh Chauhan, Founder, TSC Consulting understands that brand image was never there. “My theory of brand image is if tomorrow a brand stops selling: will the consumers miss it? I doubt anyone who misses this brand on the shelves. These are products sold with no proper testing protocols. They find a loophole in the law and sell. Currently, Ayurveda is a holy cow everyone is milking: I have seen people selling Ayurveda medicine for critical issues. It’s a huge scam: I have personally travelled this journey over the last three years: we were told to go to Chennai and then Kerala for these alternative therapies, and from some big names. Finally, a doctor at Hinduja Hospital bailed us out. I have no faith in any of this stuff and the government must not encourage it. You have a body called IMA: trust it and go by its opinion.”
Rising Legal Scrutiny on Ads
Whether it’s ASCI or the law, brands are very frequently being accused for their advertising gimmicks. The recent frequent occurrence of brands across various product categories being held up by the legal system for their advertising – why is this happening?
Mathias feels that it is imminent. “I think people are recognising that advertising and especially the influencers coming into play are making a lot of unfair and exaggerated claims, and that exposes consumers to a lot of misinformation.
So in a sense, I wouldn't call it activism, but increased intervention from ASCI, from the courts, I think is justified because today increasingly a lot of misinformation is being spread. And therefore, having kind of a regulatory step-in, I think is warranted because you do not want to expose consumers to unfair or misinformation.”
Chauhan realises that fake news is the order of the day. “Every morning there is tons and tons of fake stuff circulating on the WhatsApp universe. The problem is when we start taking this seriously and start bringing it into the real world. As product, brand and marketing people we must be highly self-regulated and do a lot of due diligence before we put something out in the market. It’s a highly ethical business: you lie, you get caught, you lie loud, you get caught quickly. The industry bodies are quite vigilant and there are set rules. If you steamroll them: then courts get involved. But courts are the last point of hope to stop stuff like this.
We are dealing with people’s health & well-being: brands should be very careful. Yoga and other exercises are fine as long as it does get into consumption.”
