By A Correspondent

At the conference organized by The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Ambika Soni, I&B Minister and Prof K V Thomas, Minister of State, Ministry of Food, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution recognized the commendable work done by ASCI in creating best practices through its self-regulatory mechanism and various codes of conduct in advertising content. However, the ministers have urged the ASCI to further improve the self-regulatory mechanism by speeding up the processes and compliance of its codes for advertising content.

Prof K V Thomas, Minister of State, Ministry of Food, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, in his speech at the conference said, “We are reviewing consumer complaints on misleading advertisements & debating how to manage this issue. In this process, we are considering a legal requirement as well as an inter-ministerial committee to look into the issue of misleading and false advertisements. We are open to working with ASCI for a collaborative effort to take this entire matter forward.”

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ms Ambika Soni urged ASCI to speed up its mechanism to review consumer complaints on misleading advertisements, thereby making the self-regulation machinery more effective. She also added, “Self-regulation is an evolving system in response to the growing aspirations of the consumer or the common man. Advertising is the principal motivator of growth in consumer demand, thus making the role of a creative person extremely significant. The current self-regulation mechanism has evolved as a result of the concern shown by the consumer. The key intention here is that all of us should sensitize ourselves to ensure that 1.2 billion people can enjoy the freedom entrusted to us.”

Mr I Venkat, Chairman, Advertising Standards Council of India updated the assembly on the various initiatives undertaken by ASCI in recent times. He said, “As part of our evolving self-regulatory system, we have increased the frequency of our Consumer Complaints Council’s meetings to twice a month since November. The Fast Track service announced recently has already received positive response. The CCC has already reviewed eight advertisements until now under the Fast Track system. The support we expect from government will ensure that ASCI continue to create global standards and international benchmarks in self-regulation of advertising content.”

The conference also included three technical sessions to discuss issues and solutions related to (i) Decency in advertising, (ii) Honesty & truthfulness in advertising and (iii) F&B Advertising. Each interactive session had speakers representing Industry, Regulators and Activists and was moderated by TV anchors with expertise in the field of advertising.