On May 7, in a case involving the Indian Medical Association and the Centre, SC directed that no advertisements on television, print, digital, or radio can be published or aired without the SDC, aiming to ensure compliance with regulations and prevent misleading claims.
“The entire advertising ecosystem, be it advertisers, agencies or publishers will need to create internal systems to be compliant,” Manisha Kapoor, CEO and secretary general, Advertising Standards Council of India, told TOI.
This is true for all sectors and categories.
“Practices such as advertising reviews, prior to publishing and preventive risk-assessments to avoid potential backlash will now be embedded in the brand strategy of an organisation. The threat of adverse impact that emerges from this regulation requires that organisations invest in verifying the claims of external communication,” said Mustafa Surka – partner, risk advisory services at KPMG India.
The pre-release approval by the
regulatory agency works better for all the stakeholders and saves time, resources and effort rather than a post-correction, feels Nandini Dias, former CEO of Lodestar UM. “Often after ad is released, someone objects and puts a stop to it. If the ad is pulled off, it disrupts the entire marketing activity for that quarter and causes huge loss to the brand. In the Doordarshan days, one had to submit the complete storyboard, frame-by-frame and get approvals, and only after that was the film shot. And once we had DD approval, no other objections were considered. Today, the scenario is far more dynamic and complicated, it is essential to create a new system. While there is resistance as it will slow the systems down in the short-run, it will be beneficial to consumers and will help transparency in the long-run,” she added.
“All consumer brands may associate themselves with a cause, but these claims may not be trustworthy. For instance, making claims like a product is green, net zero, plastic neutral, will all need to be verifiable. Building brand trust requires clarity, responsibility, and accurate advertising,” said Namrata Rana – partner, national head (ESG), KPMG India.
Advertising experts fear it may increase red tape, and companies and agencies will need manpower to navigate the cumbersome process.
“This seems to be an exercise in bureaucracy rather than the law. Creating bureaucratic hurdles make things difficult for advertisers, without solving the problem of misleading ads,” said Santosh Desai, advertising veteran and former CEO, Future Brands.
More efforts may be needed. “Prima facie (the move) has been conceptualised to protect consumer rights. However, it may not be able to curb the menace of surrogate advertising and misleading claims – the basic objective for which it was created. The entire implementation and thereafter – monitoring, policing and punishment require a lot of thought, and is not clear at this stage,” said Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Rediffusion.
In a representation to the I&B ministry, the Indian Newspaper Society too has flagged several concerns, including problems with the portal where self-declaration has to be made, and sought that the implementation may be deferred. It has suggested that the existing mechanisms should be strengthened and govt may consider limiting the mandate to healthcare related or medical ads.