Lok Sabha Question No. 3237 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Misleading Advertisements
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: Ravi Kishan Shukla, Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Nishikant  Dubey, M.K. Vishnu Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3237 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13/03/2020

## MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS

3237.  SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE:

DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

DR. VISHNU PRASAD M.K.:

## Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

be pleased to state:

- (a) the  existing  mechanism  to  monitor  the  misleading  advertisements  in electronic, print and social media across the country;
- (b) the number of cases of misleading advertisements detected by the existing monitoring mechanism along with the present status of such cases;
- (c) the  number  of  misleading  advertisers  punished  in  the  country  so  far, State/UT-wise;
- (d) the  role  and  success  achieved  by  the  online  portal  launched  by  the Government to curb misleading advertisements in the country;
- (e) the  role  of  the  Advertising  Standards  Council  of  India  (ASCI)  and  the details of their evaluation report, if any, on misleading advertisements; and
- (f) the  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  strengthen  the  existing monitoring mechanism to prevent misleading advertisements in electronic, print as well as social media?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE; MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING; AND MINISTER OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a): All  advertisements  telecast  on  private  satellite  TV channels are regulated in accordance with the Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.

The Government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee  (IMC)  to  take cognizance  suo-moto  or  look into specific  complaints  regarding  violation  of  the  Programme  Code and Advertising Code and make appropriate recommendation for further action by the Government.

Press Council of India (PCI) has framed 'Norms of Journalistic Conduct' which inter alia covers principles and ethics with regard to advertisements in print media.

Department  of  Consumer  Affairs  has  a  portal  'Grievance Against Misleading Advertisements' (GAMA) to handle the complaints relating to misleading advertisements.

(b) to (d):  Complaints received on GAMA portal are evaluated by Advertising  Standards  Council  of  India  (ASCI),  a  self-regulatory body  of  Advertisement  industry  and  are  processed  through  its Consumer Complaints Council which deals with advertising content and decide on complaints against advertisements making misleading, false and unsubstantiated claims. Since 2015, 15,268 complaints have been registered on the GAMA Portal. In more than 90% of the advertisements where the complaints are upheld, the advertisers ensure compliance. In case such assurance by way of withdrawing or modifying the advertisement is not done in a time bound  manner,  ASCI  forwards  such  complaints  to  the  Regulator concerned to take necessary action.

(e):            ASCI  looks into complaints across all media such as Print,  TV,  Radio,  hoardings,  SMS,  e-mailers,  Internet/  web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material and point of sale material etc.  Since 2015, out of 15,268 complaints send on GAMA portal 10,798 complaints have been resolved.

(f): The  Government  periodically  monitors  its  own  mechanism for preventing misleading advertisements on various platforms. *********