Advertising regulator pulls up Reliance Communications, Vodafone among others for misleading ads

Mumbai: Advertising sector watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 130 misleading advertisements in April, including those of Godrej Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Communications and Vodafone. The Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) upheld complaints against 130 out of 199 advertisements reported to it. [caption id=“attachment_3777547” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] It upheld complaint against Reliance Communications for its fastest 4G network claim, saying it “was not substantiated and is misleading by exaggeration.” For Vodafone India’s advertisement, it said, “in view of the limit of 300 minutes/day as mentioned in the advertisement, the claim, `Rs 328 + unlimited local / STD calls for 28 days, is misleading.” It found Godrej Consumer Products Cinthol advertisement “misleading by ambiguity and omission”, since the free pack on offer was of a smaller size. “`Buy 3 Get 1 Free is prominently displayed on the front of pack. However, this declaration is misleading by ambiguity and omission as the fourth pack is not of the same size. While the said claim was qualified by a disclaimer to declare the details of the free offer - `Buy 3 units of 125g soaps and get 1 unit of 75g free, the placement position of the disclaimer was not on the same panel of the packaging,” said the ad regulator. It also pulled up Hindustan Unilevers Pepsodent Germi Check advertisement and said it was misleading by omission of other measures required to be taken for protection from caries (dental cavities) after eating sugary food.