Livon, Dove shampoo, Byju’s e-learning, Lotus Herbals, and Sun Rich Sunflower Oil
Mumbai: Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a watchdog boy for advertising sector found many of the healthcare, education, food & beverages and personal care advertisements are misleading.
Out of 171 misleading advertisments in January this year, the ASCI found as many as 118 belonged to the healthcare products, 16 to the education, 10 food & beverages and five to personal care while 22 were from other categories.
The Customer Complaints Council(CCC) of ASCI had received a total of 247 complaints in the month of January out of which it upheld complaints against 171 misleading advertisments. Among the misleading advertisments are that of Livon, Dove shampoo, Byju’s, and Lotus Herbals.
Besides, the ASCI had picked up a total of 148 advertisements for suo moto surveillance, complaints against 130 advertisements were upheld. Of the total 130 advertisements, 101 advertisements belonged to healthcare, 15 to the education category, one to food and beverage category, two to personal care category and 11 to the others category.
It upheld the complaint against Marico’s Livon hair serum as it was not substantiated with verifiable comparative product test data of the advertiser’s product and other competitor products and found it misleading by exaggeration and implication.
“The claim, ‘three times smoother, 50 per cent glossier’, was based on test result compared with untreated hair. When viewed together with the claim of ‘Best Hair Serum’, these numerical claims were considered to be misleading by implication that the claim holds against other competitor products and by omission of mention of the basis of comparison,” it said.
It also pulled up Hindustan Unilever’s Dove environmental defence shampoo advertisement claim was inadequately substantiated and is misleading by implication and exaggeration.
Learning app Byju’s advertisement was also upheld as the claims were not substantiated with supporting data and were misleading by exaggeration.
“The advertisement’s claims, ‘One crore students are learning from Byju’s- the learning app, 600 member strong R&D team is involved in creating the best learning programme for students, 93 % parents reported an overall increase in their children’s grades after using Byju’s, 90% students renew their Byju’s course year on year and 51 minutes spent on the app on an average by a student everyday were not substantiated with supporting data and are misleading by exaggeration,” it said.
It pulled up Lotus Herbals Youth Rx advertisement claim of reverse ageing, 10 times more geneplex youth compound, and stop ageing, were not substantiated with evidence of product efficacy and are misleading by gross exaggeration.
“Additionally, the TVC shows endorsement of the claims by a celebrity Shilpa Shetty which, when seen in conjunction with the unsubstantiated claims, is likely to mislead consumers regarding the product efficacy,” it said.
ASCI also found Ruchi Soya’s Sunrich Sunflower Oil advertisement claims to be misleading by exaggeration.
“The advertisement’s claims ‘absorbs 15 per cent less oil, and ‘helps in reducing family intake of nine litres oil’ were inadequately substantiated. It was concluded that these claims are misleading by exaggeration,” it said.
