ETHICAL DILEMMA

OF ADVERTISING IN

INDIA

-BHAVYA MALHOTRA

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

.

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,

directly or by implication, do not exceed what is considered prudent by

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, and advises the individual winner by post.

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

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

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING

Decency

Honesty

Social Responsibility

Truthful presentation

Comparisons

Imitation

Safety and health

Avoidance of Harm

Environmental behavior

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

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.

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.

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.

EXAGGERATION

Using false claims in the advertisements about the product.

For example:-Ghari detergent - “Pehle Istemaal kare phirvishvaas 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 the best’, the flattest screen, other flatter than the flattest.

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.

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.

Colgate Vs Pepsodent

Complan Vs Horlicks

Coca cola Vs Pepsi

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.

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

eye. Guys are for the most part demonstrated proficient, dynamic

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.

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

WOMEN STEREOTYPING

Women shown as doing domestic work which

reflects stereotype image of women.

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

Women in advertising used as sex symbols

Amul macho “yeh toh bada toing hai”

Axe dark temptation

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.

Too many ads show bare male models. Critics are

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.

Children in advertising

Children are easily persuaded and have alarge pull on today's markets, as is knownby all advertisers, even ones who do notintend for their products to be consumedby 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.

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 fourproduct categories:Toys, cereal, candy & fast food restaurants

Advocates Argue That Children:

Marketers Argue Children:

Lack the knowledge and skills to evaluate advertising claims

Cannot differentiatebetween programs and

commercials

Must learn through socialization

Must acquire skills needed to function in the marketplace

PERSPECTIVES ON ADS FOR CHILDREN

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.

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

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 dishwashliquid 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).

• “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.

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

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.