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Indian Advertising Codes and Ethics

Fri, 03/19/2010 - 17:14 — LIG Reporter

The tag line of the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) says “Regulate yourself, or someone else will.” How true! So many ads with explicit scenes and double meaning words

make it an embarrassment for families to sit and watch the TV together. Yes, it is a fact thatadvertising agencies tend to go overboard, when it comes to selling a product. Double meaning

words, sexuality, violence, misleading, false and offensive advertising videos are now a part of 

our life. For parents and teachers, the greatest worry pertains to how children will perceive andincorporate the meaning of these ads in their young minds.

Need for Advertising Code in India

Advertisers should ensure that their ads are not offensive or violating the

laws of the land. Ads should not violate the basic standards of decency,

morality and religious beliefs of viewers. In India, certain ethics must befollowed while creating ads.

Legal actions can be taken against advertisements that

  Ridicule caste, race, nationality, colour and creed.

  Goes against any provision of the Indian Constitution.

  Incite people towards criminal activity, provocative, cause disorder and/or violence in the

country.  Breach laws and/or glorify obscenity or violence in any form.

  Glorify terrorism, communal massacres, criminality and so on.

  Ridicule the father of the nation, the national emblem, part of Constitution or the image

of a national leader or a state dignitary.

  Depict women in a deprecating manner. Females should not be portrayed in a mannerthat is obscene, exploitative or vulgar.

  Display distasteful visual content that goes beyond the established norms of good taste

and decency.

  Exploit and encourage social evils like child marriage, bride burning and dowry system.

Other Advertising Codes in India

What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising methods

use falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truthful facts to deceive the public.

This was stated by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964.

Here are some more ethics and standards to be followed in advertisements:

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1. Permission will not be granted where objects are completely or largely religious or political in

nature. Advertisements cannot be directed towards any religious or political end, or to gainmileage of any form.

2. Any goods or services that are advertised should not have any defect or deficiencies of any

form declared in the Consumer Protection Act 1986.

3. Products should not be portrayed in a way that misleads the public to infer that the item hassome special, miraculous or a super natural quality, which is anyways difficult to prove.

4. Picture and the audible matter of the advertisement video should not be excessively 'loud'.

5. Advertisement should not endanger the safety of children or produce any sort of perversion orinterest that prompts them to adopt or imitate unhealthy practices.

6. Any type of offensive, indecent, suggestive, vulgar, repulsive themes and/or treatment must be

avoided under all circumstances.

Good creative advertisement will always attract people’s attention, but they should have

meaningful visual content. one shouldn’t have an attitude to play with people’s sentiments andemotions.

Remember, the golden words of David Ogilvy, the famous Ad Guru, " A good advertisement is

one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself."

Related Categories and Tags: 

 Legal Tips 

  Advertising Codes in India 

  Advertising in India 

  Constitution of India 

  crime 

  criminal acts 

  David Ogilvy 

  dowry 

  false and offensive 

  females 

  Indian laws 

 misleading 

  morality 

  Need for Advertising Code in India 

  religion 

  sexuality 

  video 

  Vilhjalmur Stefansson 

  violence 

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  vulgarity 

Comments

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The space below is only for comments on the story published on this page.

Mon, 02/28/2011 - 06:48 — PREMJI BHANUSHALI

In addition to the points made in the article, advertisers also employ an unfair tactic of suppressing the negative or restrictive features and conditions relating to their product or offer.

The positive features are exaggerated by use of superlative language and very large fonts,

colours and pictures where as the restrictive or negative conditions are displayed in the ad in amanner that it will be unreadable and placing such part in inconspicuous manner. For example

the advertisements given by the builders and developers. The attractive pictures of the buildings,

amenities like swmimming pool, gardens, club house are displayed in large bold fonts with a tine

asterisk against it. Somewhere in a corner or at the bottom, it will be printed in fine print that thepictures given are not the actual product. This practice which not only unethical but devious and

damaging to the interest of the public is practiced rampantly. In layman term's such tactic isnothing less than cheating people.The concerned governmental and non-governmental bodies are requested to stop it and

investigate suo-motto such ads which are openly given in the print media and impose deterrent

penalties.

  reply 

 Sun, 01/22/2012 - 06:05 — sunil jariwala

i want some information about pintmedia advertisting norms in india.some of products ads. there products fealsly. i want some tips to regularet them by courts.

  reply