Ads to be controlled

Govt to finalise guidelines to rein in ad sector
Wednesday,17 February 2010, 06:45 hrs

Bangalore: To restrict the advertising industry from making unsubstantiated and misleading claims about their products, the government is in the process of finalising the drafted guidelines. The guidelines are based on the recommendations of the committee set up by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to investigate claims made by Hindustan Unilever (HUL) about 'Kissan Amaze', reports Seema Sindhu from Business Standard.

"The advertising rules and regulation will be based on guidelines recommended by the committee which investigated the Kissan Amaze case. The committee has drafted a 15-page document on guidelines detailing what can be shown in ads and what can't be," a government official involved in the matter told Business Standard.

FSSAI is an autonomous statutory body set up under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Some scientists had complained to the health ministry a couple of months ago that the claims made by HUL - that its Kissan Amaze gives 33 per cent key brain nutrients required by children daily - are not true. HUL, on its part, countered the claims in its reply to the authorities. FSSAI, then, set up a 5-member committee (headed by Vasantha Muthuswamy, former Deputy Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research) to investigate the claims.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the recommendations will be reviewed and put on its website for consultation with the stakeholders within the next seven days. After taking cognizance of the feedback it receives, the guidelines will be notified and companies with "misleading" advertisements will be subject to punishment, which could also result in calling back the product from the market. The official added that the FSSAI-appointed committee has completed its investigation and will soon send a notice to HUL in the context of the Kissan Amaze case.

I would like to congratulate the government in its above efforts.
These ad people make unsubstantiated claims of their products.
You may imagine the frustration of a marriageable girl when she continues to apply "Fair & Lovely" cream for months on end and still does not achieve the fair complexion advertised.
The girl in the ad achieves it in one week flat.
Further, these ads should not advertise stunts which are emulated by young minds which ends in tragedy when they try to copy those stunts.
This would bring some sanctity to the TV programmes as they dish out any trash as they get the ads.
The lower ad budgets would also reduce the clout of BCCI which is trying to make cricket a 24 x 365 game which has already started to feel the pinch of the law of diminishing returns.