Consumers across the country are becoming increasingly aware against the misleading advertisements which breach the laws of the land, and the complaints filed with the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) related to these misleading advertisements are increasing rapidly. In the last three years, complaints filed against the advertisements of personal-care products have increased three times. As per ASCI’s statistics, 200 complaints were filed against the advertisements of personal-care products during 2019-20.
And between April and December 2022, their number increased three times and reached the mark of 595. The ASCI receives the largest number of complaints related to advertisements on education, which is 26%, followed by complaints of healthcare advertisements at 15%, and personal-care advertisements at 12%. According to ASCI, 84% of the misleading advertisements are against the direct to consumer brands, and most of their presence can be seen on social and digital platforms.
The highest number of misleading advertisements (55.3%) were found on Instagram, followed by on YouTube (25.9%), and on Facebook (11.3%). 92.5% of all the misleading advertisements were found on these platforms only. For 68% of the misleading advertisements related to personal-care, social media influencers are responsible. As per ASCI, earlier, the highest number of complaints for misleading advertisements were related to advertisements on television, and now, a tsunami of such advertisements has hit the social and digital platforms.
