1. ETHICAL DILEMMA
OF ADVERTISING IN
INDIA
-BHAVYA MALHOTRA

2. Advertising
 Advertising is a form of a paid communication with the purpose of
influencing the target customer’s buying behaviour, inducing
and persuading them to make a purchase. Advertising deals with
many criticisms related to its responsibility to publish ethically and
legally accepted content
 create the basic demand for products and services
 inducing on increasing the frequency of buying and usage
 focuses on increasing the market share of the company, building
brand preferences and brand loyalty, etc
 an integral component of ‘commercial strategy’ for publicizing
helps in distinguishing the products and services from its
competitors by focusing on its core competencies
 a variety of elements in order to create an image of their products in
the minds of the customers, using emotions, drama, action, comedy,
sex appeal, music, etc

3. Ethics in advertising industry
 “Conduct which is right in view of the society
and the time period”
 moral values and principal guidelines which
govern the actions of the human race.
 relative concept and varies in every culture and
may differ in time periods.
 What may seem ethical to one may not
necessarily be of the same meaning for the other
person; he may find it disrespectful, misleading,
unjust, false or inappropriate according to their
culture, social and moral values.

4.  People describe advertising to be misleading
and false means of persuading customers to
purchase.
 It is referred to be parasitical and obscene.
 Stereotyping, using children in advertising,
puffery, deception, incomplete information,
comparative advertising, etc are the key
unethical issues that need to be dealt with in
advertising.

5. Self Regulation of
Advertisements in India
The Advertising Club - The Advertising Club, Mumbai in April 1982,
organized a workshop on “Code for Self-Regulation in Indian
Advertising”, in Collaboration with the International Advertising
Association (IAA).
Professionals from various Indian Advertisers & Advertising
Agencies, the World President Emeritus of the IAA and the Director
General of the Advertising Standards Authority addressed the
workshop. The main objectives of the workshop were.
a) To review the self regulation on advertising in various countries
with particular reference to the infrastructure as set up in the U.K.
b) To evolve a code for self regulation in advertising in India as a
plan for an effective infrastructure for enforcing it.
The deliberations resulted in setting up of a committee on self
regulation code in India. This was basically set out to ensure that
the consumers are protected against spurious advertising and
the generally accepted norms of morality are upheld.

6. Self Regulation of
Advertisements in India
 The Indian Newspaper Society (INS
Formerly IENS) an autonomous body with
members comprising newspaper and
magazines, has also developed code of
Advertising Ethics, which is followed by its
member publications.

7. Self Regulation of
Advertisements in India
 Another body known as Consumer
Education Research Centre (CERC) is also
doing commendable service in creating
awareness among the consumers against
unethical and misleading advertising and
fighting the cases against erring advertisers.
Self-regulation and control of advertising
emanate from all segments of the advertising
industry, including individual advertisers and
their agencies, business and advertising
associations, and the media.

8. Self Regulation of
Advertisements in India
The Advertising Standards Council of India
 Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a self
regulatory council which regulates the content of
advertisements in India. It is efficient and effective
redressal machinery for the stoppage of misleading,
untruthful, indecent or unfair ads. It is still the only self
regulatory body in India for published or broadcasted
Advertisements in India. The main association
responsible for the setting up of ASCI are:
 1. The Indian Society of Advertisers;
 2. The Advertising Agencies Association of India; and
 3. The Indian Newspapers Society.

9. Code of Conduct of ASCI
 1. Advertisements must be truthful. All descriptions, claims and
comparisons, which related to matters of objectively ascertainable fact,
should be capable of substantiation as and when called upon to do so
by the Advertising Standards Council of India.
 2. Where advertising claims are expressly stated to be based on or
supported by independent research or assessment, the source and
date of this should be indicated in the advertisement.
 3. Advertisements should not contain any reference to any person, firm
or institution without due permission; nor should a picture of any
generally identifiable person be used in advertising without due permission.
 4. Advertisements shall not distort facts nor mislead the consumer by
means of implications or omissions. Advertisement shall not contain
statements or visual presentations, which directly or by implication or by
omission or by ambiguity or by exaggeration are likely to mislead the
consumer about the product advertised or the advertiser or about any
other product or advertiser.
 5. Obvious untruths or exaggerations intended to amuse or to catch
the eye of the consumer are permissible. (Provided that they are clearly
to be seen as humorous or hyperbolic and not likely to be understood as
making literal or misleading claims for the advertised product)

10. .
 6. Advertisements shall not be so framed as to abuse the trust of
consumers or exploit their lack of experience or knowledge. No
advertisement shall be permitted to contain any claim so exaggerated as to
lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers. For
example:
 (i) Products shall not be described as ‘free’ where there is any direct
cost to the consumer other than the actual cost of any delivery, freight
or postage. Where such costs are payable by the consumer, a clear
statement that this is the case shall be made in the advertisement.
 (ii) Where a claim is made that if one product is purchased another
product will be provided ‘free’, the advertiser is required to show as and
when called upon by ‘The Advertising Standards Council of India that the
price paid by the consumer for the product which is offered for purchase
with the advertised incentive.
 (iii) Claims that use expressions such as “Upto five years guarantee” or
“Prices from as low as Y” are not acceptable if there is a likelihood of the
consumer being misled either as to the extent of the availability or as to the
applicability of the benefits offered.
 (iv) Special care and restraint has to be exercised to those suffering from
weakness, any real or perceived inadequacy of any physical attributes
such as height or bust development, obesity, illness, importance,
infertility, baldness and the like to ensure that claims or representations,

11. Code of Conduct of ASCI
 (v) Advertisements inviting the public to invest money shall not
contain statements which may mislead the consumer in respect of
the security offered, rates, of return or terms of amortization;
where any of the foregoing elements are contingent upon the
continuance of or change in existing conditions, or any other
assumptions, such conditions or assumptions must be clearly
indicated in the advertisements.
 (vi) The Advertisements inviting the public to take part in lotteries
or price competitions permitted under the law or which hold out the
prospects of gifts shall state clearly all-material conditions so as
to enable the consumers to obtain a true and fair view of their
prospects in such activity.
 Further, such advertisers shall make adequate provision for the
judging of such competitions, announcement of the results and
the fair distribution of prizes or gifts according to the
advertised terms and conditions within a reasonable period of
time. With regard to the announcement of results, it is clarified that
the advertiser’s responsibility under this, section of the Code is
discharged adequately if the advertiser publicizes the main results in
the media used to announce the competition as far as is practicable,

13. LAWS GOVERNING
ADVERTISING IN INDIA
 Advertisements (Hire Purchase) Act, 1967
 Consumer Credit Act, 1974:
 Consumer Protect Act, 1987
 Control of Misleading Advertisements
Regulations, 1988
 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
 Data Protection Act, 1986
 Unfair Contract Terms Act, 1977

14. LAWS GOVERNING
ADVERTISING IN INDIA
 Fair Trading Act, 1973
 Lotteries and Amusements Act, 1976
 Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1976
 Supply of Goods (Implied Terms) Act, 1973
 Trade Descriptions Act, 1968
 Imported Goods
 Trade Marks Act 1938
 Unsolicited Goods and Services Act, 1971 and
1975
 Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1984

15. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING
 Decency
 Honesty
 Social Responsibility
 Truthful presentation
 Comparisons
 Imitation
 Safety and health
 Avoidance of Harm
 Environmental behavior

16. Government General Rules of
Conduct in Advertising in India
No advertisement should be permitted which:
 Which divides any race, caste, color, creed, nationality except
wherein such usage would be for specific purpose of effective
dramatization
 Which is against any of objectives, principles of provisions of
the constitution of India
 Which will tend to incite people to crime or to promote disorder,
violence or breach of law
 Which presents criminality as desirable, or furnish details of crime
or imitation thereof
 Which would adversely affect friendly relations with foreign
states;
 Which exploits the national emblem (For Doordarshan only)
 No cigarettes and tobacco products
 Advertisement wholly or mainly must not be directed towards any
religious or political end and have any relation to any industrial
dispute

17. Government General Rules of
Conduct in Advertising in India
 Advertisement for services concerned with following are not acceptable
Moneylenders ; Chit fund and saving schemes; Unlicensed employment
service; Matrimonial agencies; Fortune-tellers, etc. and those with claim of
hypnotism
 Betting tips and guide books, etc., relating to horse racing or other
games of chance shall not be accepted
 No advertisement shall contain references which are likely to lead public to
infer that the product advertised or any of its gradients has some property
or quality which is incapable of being established e.g. care for
baldness.
 Scientific or statistical accepts from technical literature.
 Advertisers or their agents must be prepared to produce evidence to
substantiate any claims or illustrations.
 Advertisement should not contain disparaging reference to another
product or service.
 Imitation likely to mislead viewers
 Visual and verbal representation of actual and comparative prices and
costs must be accurate and should not mislead.
 Testimonials must be genuine and must not be used in a manner likely to
mislead the viewers.

18. ETHICAL CONCERNS AND
ISSUES IN ADVERTISING
 PUFFERY/FRAUDULATION- All the time we hear that
promotion overstates about the item qualities.
Nowadays "puffery" i.e. "representation of thought"
structures to be primary component in publicizing.
From one viewpoint critics accuse it, while on
alternate i.e. advertisers and promoting experts
opined it as a helping agents in differentiating their
brands from the competitors.
 Puffery is considered to be an ‘opinion’ and not
‘factual information’.
 Promoters guarantee that the buyers are sufficiently
insightful to recognize truth and misrepresentation.
Also they are not indiscriminately going to think
everything accordingly exhibited in an ad.

19. PUFFERY/FRAUDULATION-
 E.g. In the advertisement of ‘Force 10’ shoes the copywrite says “I am
walking on air” which is a metaphor. It describes the lightness of the shoe
which the viewers misunderstand and believe that if they wear it they will fly
or walk in the air. They feel it’s over exaggerated and misleading
 With the utilization of embellishments overstating the "quality" and utilizing
different "appeals" publicists performed their items to such a degree, to the
point that reality is way too close.
 E.g. “Hajmola Anardana” is not going to increase consumer’s retention
power. Similarly, consuming “Mirinda” one will not forget anything as well as
a ‘VIP Franchie” will obviously not just get someone a partner.
 The advertisements of ‘Wheel” & “Vim” bars have lemons labelled on their
packaging & advertisement. Whereas it is found that the product only has
Lemon flavour in them.
 These are cases of deception and puffery.
 Puffery, maybe legal, but it is not harmful to an extent. Only false and
dishonest claim are unethical practices which leads to loss of customer's
trust and loyalty towards the brands.

22. EXAGGERATION
 Using false claims in the advertisements about the
product.
 For example:-Ghari detergent - “Pehle Istemaal kare phir
vishvaas kare.”, Tide detergent – “White ho to Tide ho.”,
Vodafone Essar – “Wherever you go our network
follows.”
White ho to
Tide ho.
One Drop Challenge Wherever you go our
network follows.

24. UNTRUTHFUL OR
DECEPTIVE
 “Deceptiveness is defined as not only as false and misleading statements but also
as false impressions conveyed, whether intentional or not.”
 False and subjective claims about the products are often believed by the viewers
which are untruthful and misleading. The problems of fraudulent advertising exists
more at the ground level specifically in all kinds of direct marketing. The following
acts are considered unfair or deceptive practices:
 a) False promises
 b) Incomplete Descriptive
 c) Misleading Comparisons
 d) Bait and Switch Offers
 e) Visual Distortions
 f) False Testimonials
 g) False Comparisons
 h) Partial Disclosures
 i) Small – Print Qualifications
 j) Laboratory Application

25. SURROGATE ADVERTISING
 Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where
advertising a particular product is banned by law.
 Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are
injurious to heath are prohibited by law in several countries and
hence these companies have to come up with several other
products that might have the same brand name and indirectly
remind people of the cigarettes or beer bottles of the same brand
Common examples include:
Fosters and Kingfisher beer brands, which are often seen to
promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertising

27. OFFENSIVE OR IN BAD
TASTE
 (Offensive, tasteless, irritating, boring, obnoxious)
 Taste is subjective i.e. what is good taste to one may be bad for someone
else. Tastes changes with time even as what is offensive today may not be
tomorrow. Consumers can be offended by advertising in a number of ways.
 E.g. the advertisements for products like contraceptives or personal
hygiene are not acceptable to some consumers due to the usage of nudity
in their advertisements.
 Condoms Ads are not acceptable by some of the people. The
advertisements of women’s undergarments as well as hemorrhoid products
are found to be irritating commercials.
 The presentation of products in the ads is sometimes found to be irritating.
E.g. anti tobacco consumption ads, & Anti-dandruff shampoo ads are
criticized to create anxiety & fear to be rejected in the society;
 Sexual Appeal – Using women as sex objects in masculine products like
Axe deodorants, Durex condoms, etc are highly discouraged in Indian
society.

28. CREATES MATERIALISTIC
DEMAND
 Advertising creates drives and fantasies in the viewers who
crave for material possessions for their wealth enhancement.
Few critics attribute to advertising that
 a) It induces customers creating a drive and need for that
product instead of showcasing the features and utility of the
product;
 b) Persuades customers how the purchase of the product can
enhance their life by inducing them for materialistic
possessions.
 c) Portrays these possessions as symbol of status, success,
social acceptance, popularity, sex appeal and so on.
 Eg: Advertising luxury brands like Apple products
targeting middle class section of the society creates a
materialistic demand for those brands which is above their
purchasing power. It creates a sense of dissatisfaction and
discourages the viewers more than encouraging them to
purchase. They are advertised in a way to attract customers
who should buy them as a status symbol.

29. MAKES PEOPLE BUY THE
THINGS NOT NEEDED
 Advertisers inspire and influences customers to purchase the
things that are not required even. As indicated by numerous
commentators promoting ought not influence by playing with
shoppers feelings, nerves, mental needs & longings, for
example, status, self regard, allure & others yet should simply
give data helpful in settling on buy choices, for example,
value, execution & other target criteria.
 Critics say powerful promoting foster discontent among
buyers & urge them to buy items & administrations to take
care of deeper issues. Defenders accept that exceptionally
useful commercial is frequently extremely influential and if
enticing advertisement won't be allowed then there will be no
notice as advertising’s primary target is to induce.
 Eg: products like Stickers, shoes having features which
aren’t quite required and useful but only add an appeal to
the design, etc

30. COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING
 Comparative advertising is also considered unethical.
 E.g: Pepsi of Coca Cola. The brands are similar but in order to
increase their sales, they use comparative advertising to prove their
brands to be better than the other. Lays & Pringles also try to use the
same strategy.
 The new introductory brand ‘Captain Cook Salt’ presented the
advertisements in a humorous way. In the reply, Tata Salt’s ad talked
about the brand loyalty & nationalism. This led to an ad-war between
the two brands.
 Similarly making the packaging or the names sounding similar to the
major brands in the market the competitor’s sells their brands like
GOLOFLAKE for GOLDFLAKE.
 Comparative advertising has become a major weapon though it is
very risky. Likewise, playing with numbers & facts while comparing
with competitors often are of legal concerns e.g. The Pepsondent ad
was ban which claimed ‘being 102% better than their competitor” by
MRTP commission due to the complaint filed by Colgate.
 Plagiarism of copy work in ads is also increasing in advertising world
today. One copy says, “Believe in the best” & another “better than

31. Horlicks Vs Complan
 The ad started with a scene inside the classroom where the teacher
is taking the attendance.
 The teacher calls out " Calcium" then a group of students raise their
hands, then she calls out " Iron " another group raises their hands.
 Then the voice over talks about the deficiency of nutrients seen in
kids.
 Then comes the critical part, a Doctor ( model) comes to the picture
and talks about 23 vital nutrients that is necessary for the growth
and claims that these nutrients are present in HORLICKS.
 Horlicks is trying to negate the core differentiation of Complan .
 Complan since its inception has been harping on the 23 vital
nutrients. Now Horlicks is trying to create parity by claiming the
same property.
 Complan has never been so aggressive and blunt.

34. Rin Vs Tide
 This is the first time that HUL has directly
compared Tide with Rin. The Ad even have the
tagline "Rin offers Better whiteness than Tide".
P&G has took HUL to court over this ad. This ad
was timed to coincide with the long weekend so
that HUL could play the ad before the Court
hearing.

35. Colgate Vs Pepsodent
Complan Vs Horlicks
Coca cola Vs Pepsi

36. UNVERIFIED CLAIMS
 It includes advertisements of “energy drinks” which
tells us about the number of vitamins and how they
help children to grow strong and tall.
 There is no way of verifying these false claims.
 For example:-Horlicks, Maltova, Tiger biscuits.

38. STEREOTYPE
 Publicizing is regularly censured of making & propagating
generalizations through depiction of ladies, ethnic minorities &
different gatherings. It includes exhibiting a gathering of individuals
in an example or way that needs singularity.
 In our general public, we have numerous generalizations like South
Indians are educated people; Punjabi's are disorderly & so on.
Relative & daughter in- law dependably battle, father out of house
administration and so forth.
 Women: The most dubious of the generalizations depicted in
commercials is that of ladies & neglecting to perceive the changing
part of ladies in our general public. Commentators charge promoters
to frequently delineate ladies as engrossed with excellence, family
unit obligations and parenthood or demonstrate to them as
embellishing articles or sexually provocative figures.
 In addition, housewives are depicted, as they are recently worried
about the cleanliness of their homes, strength of relatives & so on.
Young ladies possessed with magnificence & young men. Not very
many promotions perceive the different part of ladies in the public

39. STEREOTYPE
 Feminist groups such as the National
Organization for Women (NOW) and Sexual
Assault Prevention & Awareness Center argue
against such advertisements.
 While sexism and stereotyping still exists,
advertising’s portrayal of women is improving in
many parts of the world. Advertisers are now
portraying women realistically.
 Eg: Dove uses the concept of ‘Real Women’. It
uses everyday women and not models and
heroines in their advertisements and their claims
are also realistic. It uses all types of women in
context to their age, occupation, skin colour, hair,
race, culture, religion.

41. Women are generally associated with household works
and is not supposed to be a good decision maker which
contributes to women stereotyping.
WOMEN STEREOTYPING

42. Women shown as doing domestic work which
reflects stereotype image of women.

43. ADVERTISING AND SEX
 Critics regularly blame promoting for depiction for
ladies as charm props. Sex in Advertising is the
most disputable perspective, which is a lot of
social issue than a moral issue.
 As talked about prior about the generalization in
depicting ladies as housewives let us now
examine about generalizing ladies in the
promotions.
 Sufficiently depicting ladies in a promotion for
condom is satisfactory as it is needed. But ladies
provocating sex in commercials of bags, Shaving
froths or creams, tires, pens, shoes and so on
does not bode well by any means

44. Women in advertising used as sex symbols

45. Amul macho “yeh toh bada toing hai”
Axe dark temptation

46. ADVERTISING AND SEX
 E.g. In the advertisement of ‘Gel Pen’ the exposure of
women & copy saying ‘sab kuchh dikhta hai’ has been
matter of critique.
 ‘Tuff Shoes’ portraying the male & female models
wearing tuff shoes and a python draped around their
nude bodies were also unacceptable in Indian society.
This ad was banned.
 The ad of VIP Frenchie showing a male model in
bathing robe is highly obscene as countered by many
critics.
 The southern tip in the map of India, in the ad of
Smirnoff was portrayed as the private parts of a lady
were banned.

48. IMPROPER LANGUAGE
 One of the real complaints against publicizing is that the ad copy is
excessively blustery, excessively easygoing and casual i.e.
inappropriate and improper.
 It is accepted that the commercials have wrecked the respect of the
dialect. The examination on publicizing demonstrates that
customer's better reacts to the basic and sensible dialect, than to
the more dignified & formal copy. An effective duplicate is that which
is enlightening, bright and pictures are as warm, human &
individual.

49. Children in advertising
 Children are easily persuaded and have a
large pull on today's markets, as is known
by all advertisers, even ones who do not
intend for their products to be consumed
by children.
 The children’s market where resistance to
advertising is weakest is the “pioneer for
ad creep”.” Kids are among the most
sophisticated observers of ads.
 They can sing the jingles and identify the
logos, and they often have strong
feelings about products.
 What they generally don't understand,
however, are the issues that underlie how
advertising works.

50. Children's TV Watching Behavior
Children ages 2-11
watch an average of
22 hours of TV per
week and see 30,000
commercials per year
80% of all advertising
targeted to children
falls in four
product categories:
Toys, cereal, candy &
fast food restaurants

51. Advocates Argue That Children:
Marketers Argue Children:
Lack the knowledge and skills
to evaluate advertising claims
Cannot differentiate
between programs and
commercials
Must learn through
socialization
Must acquire skills needed to
function in the marketplace
PERSPECTIVES ON ADS FOR CHILDREN

52. EXCESSIVE
ADVERTISEMENTS
 The human beings are exposed to
approximately 1000 commercial messages
every day.
 The advertising disorder is actually agonizing
the promoting professionals over the negative
effect of publicizing proliferation.
 With the increment in brand and the mass
media alternatives to choose from, there is a
boom in advertising industry today.

53. AXE ADVERTISEMENT
 AXE a product of HUL.
 Vaibhav Bedi had been using AXE Deodorant for the past
seven years, but didn’t able to grab the girls attention.
Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in
instantly attracting women.
 In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal
embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-
year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company,
which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for
‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’.
 Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used,
unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and
roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes,
shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a
laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the
brand managers of Axe

57. RECKITT BENCKISER’S DETTOL KITCHEN AD
TAKES ON HUL’S VIM
Reckitt Benckiser, the launching commercial for its
Dettol Kitchen dishwashing and kitchen cleaning
gel shows rival Hindustan Unilever’s Vim dishwash
liquid clearly, in a move that may trigger a new
advertising war between the two European
multinationals.
Skirmishes between the two firms have been
veiled in the past, although both have repeatedly
taken each other to court and advertising
watchdog
Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

58. • “Such ads gives a very strong message psychologically
that it’s not just another product and they can compete
with the market leader.
• While HUL almost has a monopoly in the segment, there
could be more action now in an otherwise dull
segment,”
• In general, the consumer complaints council code
allows ads to show a rival brand as long as the claims
made in the ad are fact-based,”.
• Reckitt Benckiser has positioned Dettol Kitchen as a
‘complete kitchen cleaner’, for use as a dish-washing gel
and cleaning other kitchen surfaces like sinks and slabs.

59. Criticism against McDonald’s
McLibel Case
 Allegations of unethical practices
 Criticized for serving fatty foods
 Exploiting children with their advertisements
 Cruelty to animals
 Antipathetic to unions
 Low wages to workers
 False advertisement of nutritious food
 Risked the health of most regular
and long-term customers

60. CONCLUSION
 While trying to direct the force of these Ads in the media;
governments; should put more particular guidelines and
regulations on Ads, with respect to all its distinctive
viewpoints. Since the current regulations are anything but
difficult to get around.
 Notwithstanding that, different nations should put into thought
that regardless of the way that the world is turning into one
business; still this business sector exists in distinctive
societies and standards that should be regarded and
nurtured.
 Subsequently, not just governments should apply regulations,
yet the brand holders themselves too.
 Concerning, they should be less reckless to what their
children are viewing, and put in mind the sensation of "age
pressure" that has been talked about prior , control should not
just originate all things considered, yet from within also.