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New Delhi: In an effort to clamp down on persistent violations of advertising guidelines, India’s consumer protection authority is planning to “name and shame” such errant advertisers, two officials aware of the matter said. Notices and orders issued against entities involved in misleading ads, such as coaching institutions or service providers, would be displayed on the website of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and that of its nodal ministry—the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution—the officials said.
Currently, notices and orders issued against misleading advertisers are not publicly available. Publishing them will allow consumers to identify such advertisers and, based on these observations, they can make informed decisions, the second official explained. The ministry is also planning to conduct a study to assess the impact of CCPA’s new guidelines, the official added.
“Asci has been releasing periodic reports of ads that flout some of its norms (based on complaints from people/viewers), but that is hardly punitive in nature,” said Karthik Srinivasan, a Bengaluru-based communications strategy consultant, adding that naming the advertisers should work as a deterrent at least for bigger brands. Asci is short for the Advertising Standards Council of India, an independent and voluntary self-regulatory organization.
Queries sent to the consumer affairs secretary, who currently heads the CCPA, and the consumer affairs ministry spokesperson, remained unanswered till press time.
At present, the initiative is in its planning stage and will be finalized after consultations with department officials. The idea behind the move is to raise awareness about unethical trade practices adopted by consumer-centric entities to ‘lure’ consumers, the first official cited above said.
CCPA’s actions have helped curb misleading advertisements to some extent, including those against well-known entities; yet, its guidelines continue to see violations.
In June 2022, the CCPA had released the guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022. Since then, several notices, issues and penalties have been imposed on errant violators by CCPA to protect consumers from being fleeced. For example, the CCPA issued 20 notices to IAS coaching institutes this November and imposed penalties on eight of these institutes.
“The department is also planning to conduct an impact assessment survey to evaluate the outcome of notices and penalties issued earlier against entities involved in misleading consumers by making false claims,” the first official mentioned above said.
India’s consumer protection regime has been strengthened in recent times. The Consumer Protection Act of 1986 was replaced by the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 to modernize the framework governing consumer protection in the era of globalization, technology, and e-commerce.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, a misleading advertisement is defined as one that falsely describes a product or service, gives a false guarantee, is likely to mislead consumers regarding the nature or quality, conveys a representation constituting an unfair trade practice, or deliberately conceals important information.
The ministry’s efforts are backed by Asci. According to Manisha Kapoor, CEO of Asci, the council has developed granular guidelines for different sectors and issues over time, which help stakeholders get a sharper sense of the dos and don’ts.
On dark patterns, a document was put out for public consultation before finalization of the guidelines (this June), she said, adding that with CCPA’s reinforcement, dark patterns are now clearly illegal.
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Published: 16 Dec 2023, 06:10 AM IST
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