Indian Advertisements, Indian Consumers and Ethical Conundrum: Confusopoly?
“Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.”
- David Mackenzie Ogilvy
In May 2015, Indian film actress Kangana Ranaut was asked by an interviewer, “Why did you recently turn down a deal worth Rs. 2 crores which needed you to endorse fairness (skin- lightening brand)?” She replied, “Ever since I was a kid, I have never understood the concept of fairness. Especially, in such a case, as a celebrity, what kind of example would I be setting for younger people? I have no regrets about turning this offer down. As a public figure, I have responsibilities. My sister (Rangoli Ranaut) is dusky, yet beautiful. If I go ahead and be a part of this campaign, then, in a way, I would be insulting her. If I can’t do it to my sister, how can I do it to an entire nation?” While this statement went viral, the purport kept the marketers and consumers thinking.
In response to the Debate: #2MinuteMuddle: How did it go unnoticed? (aired on Times Now on June 2nd 2015) Rajiv Narayanan, Head, Sales, AdIQuity Mobile (Flipkart), had written a post on his Facebook (on 3rd June 2015) wall – “Years ago (circa 1998), there were strict rules and policies on what ads we could take. Any product suspected to be a ‘magical drug’ was rejected outright. Where have your high standards gone now? I see multiple ads for such products daily. Be it diabetes or drugs that provide ‘vigor’. Prompted to post this seeing the double standards taken by Times Now, on celebrity endorsement and their responsibility to check if products are good and safe. I hope TOI had verified that the product in picture (Exhibit I) is absolutely safe! Shame!”..............................
Advertising Campaigns and Business Practices: Conscious Violations or Consumer Volitions?
Several Indian advertisements were in news as their purport was questioned, debated and complained against. Some of the prominent ones were related to Tata Sky, Idea Cellular and a few pharmaceutical companies’ business practices.........
Celebrated Creativity or Calibrated Callousness?
Also, several Indian companies’ advertisements were found to be culturally intimidating and infuriating a major section of the Indian social strata. A few recent culturally-insensitive advertisements – for instance, by Kalyan Jewellers, Lenskart, Fastrack, etc., have been questioned across several platforms.........
Campaigns and Complaints
ASCI, India’s self-regulatory body comprising of companies from advertising, marketing & media, has been receiving several complaints involving untruthful, unsubstantiated and misleading advertisements. ASCI expects all the Indian advertisements to comply with its four basic codes: Honesty (Is it misleading the consumer?; Does the product actually deliver the claims being made?); ..............
Advertising Violations or Consumer Volitions?
According to Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC), for the financial year of 2014-15 there was many a violation related to Indian advertisements. Vulgarity & Excessive Violence topped the category wise violations in advertisements during April-November 2014 (Exhibit VIII)............
Indian Advertisements and Regulatory Bodies
In order to understand the adequacy and functional effectiveness of ASCI’s self-regulatory framework in India, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) had conducted a comprehensive survey (Exhibit X) with top tier professionals in the advertising & marketing space in the country. According to its findings, most of the communication professionals across the sectors were of the opinion that the existing self-regulatory framework is inadequate as well as ineffective.............
Cause-related Marketing in India
Campaigns like Tata Tea’s Jaago Re and Aircel’s ‘Save Our Tigers’ have been some of the most often cited cause related marketing campaigns in India. Several others too have adopted Social Cause Marketing route to connect with some of the pressing and pertinent social issues (Exhibit XII).............
Exhibits
Exhibit I: D-Diabetes – Misleading Ad Published in Times of India
Exhibit II (a): Kalyan Jewellers Ad featuring Aishwarya Rai
Exhibit II (b): Lenskart Controversial Post on Facebook
Exhibit III: Poster – Calling People to Protest Against Titan’s Fastrack Defamed Ad
Exhibit IV: Ad Campaigns – Socially Undesirable Representations
Exhibit V: ‘Come Out of the Closet’ Campaign by Fastrack
Exhibit VI: Misleading Ad Campaigns
Exhibit VII: Some of the Misleading Ads Upheld by ASCI in December 2014
Exhibit VIII: Category-wise Violations in Ads (April-November 2014)
Exhibit IX: Violations in Ads (April 2014-March 2015)
Exhibit X: FICCI’s Survey on Efficacy of ASCI’s Self-regulatory Framework
Exhibit XI (a): ASCI’s ‘Swacch Ads Abhiyan’ Poster
Exhibit XI (b): #ASCI Ambassador on Facebook
Exhibit XII: Social Cause Marketing Campaigns