Real Estate, illegal betting ads dominate ethical code violations: ASCI

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has found that 98% of the advertisements reviewed by the body during April-September 2024 period did not conform to its code for self-regulation and required some modifications. ASCI reviewed 4016 complaints and investigated 3031 advertisements during this period.

Realty (34%), illegal betting (29%), healthcare (8%), personal care (7%), and food & beverage (6%) were the top five categories with the highest code violations.

According to the half-yearly complaints report 2024-25 released by ASCI, of the advertisements investigated, 2,087 were in violation of the law. Of these, 1,027 were reported to the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) under an MoU between ASCI and MahaRERA. The agency alerted the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) against another 890 advertisements promoting illegal betting, 10 advertisements directly promoting liquor and four other advertisements regarding deepfakes. ASCI also brought to the notice of the Ministry of Ayush 156 advertisements that violated the Drugs and Magic Remedies (DMR) Act during this period.

The 890 advertisements flagged to MIB were promoting illegal offshore betting platforms, exploiting digital spaces like fan pages, tickers, and influencers. Of these, 831 were posts from Instagram, which were in the form of tickers and tags displayed on fan and community pages that directed users to offshore betting platforms. In addition, ASCI identified 50 websites/social media pages and nine influencer posts promoting illegal betting apps and platforms.

Several pages were taken down by the platforms after the intervention of the regulator, ASCI claimed.

"Our work in partnership with government regulators in sectors such as betting and realty is creating an impact. While there is a long way to go, such partnerships are able to create an impetus for better oversight. Greenwashing is another area where we released guidelines earlier in 2024, as this will remain an area of focus for us. With constant progress in reducing our turn-around time for complaint management, ASCI’s deep experience and tech-supported efforts are evolving to provide better protection to the consumers of India”, Manisha Kapoor, CEO of ASCI, said.

Established in 1985, ASCI is a voluntary self regulatory organisation of the advertising industry. The body’s Code for Self-Regulation requires advertisements to be legal, decent, honest, and truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in competition. ASCI looks into complaints across all media, such as print, TV, radio, hoardings, SMS, emailers, internet/website, product packaging, brochures, promotional material, point of sale material, etc.