Tag: ASCI

Mumbai, India – To help brands and agencies create campaigns with inclusive gender narratives, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in collaboration with management consulting company Futurebrands has launched the ‘GenderNext’ study, which aims to give actionable insights in representing women in advertising.

The ‘GenderNext’ study includes patterns of female portrayals across multiple categories, such as personal care, fashion, beauty, home and hearth, gadgets and wheels, money, and education. The study presents insights on how advertising portrays women versus how they see themselves and want to be seen.

The study interviewed various women across different life stages and town classes, and according to them, they feel that advertising can be their ally in this journey. The study found that for young unmarried women, common stereotypes used in advertising such as women joyfully undertaking the drudgery of work have not been aspirational for them at all.

“Typical women’s day ads that show women emerge victorious after significant struggle were not considered particularly empowering. Women are tired of ads showing young women being bestowed with freedoms only after putting up a fight,” the study stated.

In line with such misportrayals, the study proposes a category agnostic framework known as the ‘SEA (Self-esteemed, Empowered, Allied) Framework’ that aims to guide stakeholders in imagining as well as evaluating portrayals of women in their advertising by building empathy and aiding evaluation.

The study also proposes a 3s screener for scripts and storyboards, casting, styling to identify stereotype red flags. The screener looks at aspects of subordination, service, and standardization, and solves these negative stereotypes through the lens of self-esteem, empowerment, and alliance.

For Lipika Kumaran, lead author at GenderNext, the study has exposed that mainstream advertising still heavily borrows from an inventory of overused, and sometimes harmful stereotypical tropes.

“A detailed study of over six hundred advertisements revealed several problematic tropes- such as sensualizing the act of eating by women, showing women as spenders in financial advertising, women running around the house while others lounge around, male gaze acceptance in beauty ads, showing women as lower down in tech-hierarchy in gadget ads, male celebrities challenging and instructing women, among others,” Kumaran explained.

Meanwhile, Subhash Kamath, chairman at ASCI, noted that said study acts as a guide for stakeholders – brand owners, marketers, advertising professionals – to aid the creation of more progressive depictions of women in advertising.

“The deep insights on women, and what they feel about advertising is a fantastic input into advertising creation, and we hope that brands and advertisers will be motivated by the findings to depict women in more progressive ways. We also intend to set up a task force to evaluate advertising guidelines on harmful stereotypes,” Kamath stated.

Furthermore, Santosh Desai, managing director at Futurebrands commented that the study has identified some common patterns of discrimination and has also created a framework that enables marketers to identify and eliminate such undesirable representations.

“As an influential form of popular culture, advertising has historically been a significant source for the propagation of gender stereotypes. While things are changing, what this study, initiated by ASCI and carried out by Futurebrands uncovers, is that gender continues to be represented in a skewed and discriminatory manner. Some obvious ways of stereotyping are less visible, but there are many other ways, both subtle and not-so-subtle, in which gender portrayals continue to be skewed,” Desai concluded.

For this study, the primary research involved ad clinics with 160 respondents and 20 focus group discussions across 10 centers, in addition to tapping into Futurebrand’s proprietary study Bharat Darshan. More than 300 people were spoken to via social media.

Mumbai, India – With the aim of helping brands create more responsible advertising practices for their upcoming campaigns, advertising regulatory body Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has launched a new service called ‘Advertising Service’ which gives brands non-binding advice, at a pre-production stage, on advertising claims and depictions to further mitigate the risk of ads being misleading, offensive, unfair or unsafe.

Said service, which will be available for all members and non-members of ASCI, and will be under a paid service.

Part of the objective that ASCI holds with the launch of this new service is that aside from being a regulatory body, they also aim to help protect consumers from objectionable ads. . They also added that the service provides confidential quick expertise to help advertisers make more responsible advertising, which in turn, saves them effort, money as well as possible loss of reputation once the advertisement is already in the marketplace.

In addition, ‘Advertising Service’ aims to help advertisers balance creativity with responsibility and is being offered in line with best global practices followed by different self-regulatory organizations.

“What is quite unique in the ASCI Advertising Advice service is that the Advertising Advice panel will also include technical experts in different specialties who can examine the claim and evidence for technical claim support. It is important to note that this service is not intended to be a pre-clearance, and advertisers may use the advice to better their ads in a manner they deem fit,” the regulatory board said in a press statement.

The service, while provided by the body’s technical team and subject experts, is not a pre-clearance of the advertisement, and neither is it a guarantee against complaints being filed by consumers. However, the service is expected to mitigate the risk of advertising being misleading, offensive, unsafe, or unfair. 

“ASCI will process any complaints they receive against such ads as per its normal process. The advisory panel for Advertising Advice service is completely different from the complaints process to avoid any potential conflicts,” they added.

For Subhash Kamath, chairman at ASCi, the newly-launched service as a crucial element in the cause of self-regulation pushed the body, adding that the service gives brands a chance to better prepare their campaigns and mitigate reputational risks.

“While there is no guarantee that consumers will not raise a claim against a brand, the advisory does help brands take steps to ensure that their campaigns don’t violate any norms formulated to protect consumer interest. We believe that this advisory service will provide the necessary support to the advertising ecosystem to create more responsible ads without affecting creativity,” Kamath stated.

Meanwhile, Manisha Kapoor, secretary-general at ASCI, commented that the advisory can be used by brands to great effect while planning their campaigns as brands wish to be competitive and push the boundaries of claims. She also added that with this service, they can support advertisers to make strong claims while not crossing the all-important lines of honesty, decency, fairness, and safety.

“An external scrutiny by experts at the pre-production stage can add tremendous value to campaign development. [In the] post-release of the campaign, any stoppage can cause significant disruption and cost for an organization. But by making this a part of the way advertisers think of campaigns at an early stage, such risks can be mitigated. We see this as a win-win for advertisers and consumers, who then get exposed to fewer problematic ads,” Kapoor added.

ASCI has long been helping advertisers with proper regulations about advertisements, which included their draft guidelines on influencer ads, and COVID-19 related campaigns.

Mumbai, India – India’s advertising regulator, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), has appointed independent and integrated agency Infectious Advertising to manage both its above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) marketing and to provide digital creative services to the council. The agency will also be delivering strategic support for campaign development and audience outreach programs.

ASCI is a non-government and voluntary organization that acts as the country’s watchdog to the advertising industry, providing wide regulation to the sector to ensure legal, decent, and truthful implementation of ads. The council investigates complaints across all media such as print, TV, radio, and hoardings, as well as on ads disseminated on SMS, emails, and most especially on the internet. The council also checks for ethical advertising on product packaging, brochures, promotional material, and point of sale material. 

Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastry, founding partners of Infectious Advertising, jointly said, “It’s an absolute honor to be brought on board as ASCI’s creative partner and we look forward to doing some path-breaking work for them.”

ASCI is very consistent in regularly launching campaigns and guidelines to ensure advertisers in the country are properly aligned to the ethical code of conduct. Its most recent ad guidelines are for online gaming for real money winnings. Meanwhile, in February this year, in response to the rise of influencer marketing, it has released draft guidelines for branded content, calling for feedback from key stakeholders. 

Recently acquiring its account, Infectious advertising is also the creative partner of furniture manufacturer Ebco and also manages creative duties for Tata Group’s financial services Tata Capital. 

Mumbai, India – The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has released Monday, draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media.

The guidelines were established by the regulatory body in response to the surging influencer marketing in the country, and the tendencies following naturally of influencers and marketers to insufficiently identify and distinguish that a digital content is promotional.

According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India’s influencer market is estimated at US$75M to US$150M a year as compared to the global market of $1.75B, and ASCI foresees that such medium is poised to increase further in practice as more Indians go online.

ASCI said that when influencers fail to properly identify promotional content, the non-disclosure is misleading, and therefore a disservice to consumers.

The council’s draft guidelines consist of 10 pointers. The direction mainly guides influencers and marketers on how a disclosure label should rightly appear, and where it must be properly placed within a content to achieve the transparency for audiences and consumers. 

ASCI said that branded and promotional content must be obviously distinguishable by the average consumer from editorial and independent user-generated content. It is not enough that advertisers label the content but that disclosure labels must be from the approved specifications. 

The reason for this is that some consumers may not be familiarized by the creative ways influencers and advertisers choose to deliver disclosure labels, and therefore labels that are not able to follow the approved specifics will not be considered adequate. Examples of these advertisements are paid music promotion in a video or a promotion of a store or a brand through a post on the influencers’ media handle. 

ASCI said the disclosure label must be upfront, such that it should be within the first two lines of accompanying copy in any given platform, not needing to click ‘see more’ or scroll further to see details. It should also be prominently placed, appropriate for the channel, and suitable for all potential devices, meaning the label is visible regardless of what channel, platform, and device is used. 

The disclosure label must also be in English or translated into the language of the ad in a way that will be well understood by the average consumer who is viewing the ad. ASCI also said that blanket disclosures, those that are put in the profile, ‘bio’ and ‘about’ sections of brands and influencers’ social media accounts will not be considered adequate. 

The council has also specified that in instances where an ad is only a posted image such as in Instagram stories or Snapchat, the label needs to be superimposed over the picture and that it must be seen clearly by an average viewer. The same goes with videos, where in cases that the promotional video content does not carry any text, the disclosure label should be superimposed. 

In regards to the video’s length, ASCI has also given a direction. For example, for videos that last 15 seconds or lesser, the disclosure label must stay for a minimum of 2 seconds, while for those that are longer than 15 seconds, but less than 2 minutes, the disclosure label must stay for one-third the length of the video. Meanwhile, for videos that are 2 minutes or longer, the disclosure label must stay for the entire duration of the section in which the promoted brand or its features and benefits are mentioned. 

With audio media, on the other hand, the statement must be clearly announced both at the beginning and at the end of the audio. In addition for social media ads, the council also prohibits filters applied to these types of ads, especially if they exaggerate the effect of the claim that the brand is making, such as shinier hair or whiter teeth. 

It is also expected that the influencer must do their due diligence about any technical or performance claims made by them such as ‘twice as better’, or ‘effect lasts for 1 month’, or the ‘fastest speed’, among others. Due diligence can be verified through correspondence with the advertiser or brand owner confirming that the specific claim made in the ad is with scientific substantiation. 

With the said guidelines, ASCI recommends that the contractual agreement between advertiser and influencer carry such presented clauses pertaining to the disclosure label, use of filters as well as due diligence. 

The guidelines will be available for all stakeholders, including industry, digital influencers as well as consumers for feedback until 8 March, 2021. Based on the feedback and inputs, the final guidelines will be issued by ASCI by 31 March, 2021, and will be applicable to all promotional posts that are published on or after 15th April 2021.

Subhash Kamath, Chairman of ASCI, said that Digital is no longer a niche and that consumers have the right to easily recognize promotional content. 

“The guidelines will help consumers identify promotional content and also guide digital influencers. We look forward to feedback from industry stakeholders, including more influencers, which would help us make the digital space more responsible for all,” said Kamath. 

The guidelines were a collaborative effort with influencers. ASCI teamed up with BigBang.Social, a marketplace for social storytelling, to get India’s leading digital influencers’ views on board.

Dhruv Chitgopekar, CEO of BigBang.Social, said, “We realized the need for a responsible advertising ecosystem in place for influencers; promoting ethical practices, fair & transparent expression. These guidelines will benefit consumers and digital influencers. We firmly believe it is essential for digital advertising platforms too. We are delighted to partner with a self-regulatory body that wants to be inclusive of all stakeholders.”

ASCI’s draft guideines on influencer ads also provides a ready reckoner on disclosure lables for each specific social media platform.

Mumbai, India – It is safe to expect that with digital platforms now tightly weaved into peoples’ lifestyles, ads on such type of media must be enjoying a high level of trust among viewers, but a study by Nielsen shows just otherwise – where traditional media still reigns supreme, at least with Indian viewers.

The study, which was commissioned by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), found that ads on traditional media continue to enjoy a high trust among Indian consumers where an average of 84% of consumers find ads to be credible across newspapers, TV, and Radio, while text or SMS ads were shown to be the least trusted at 52%. 

This comes as no surprise as TV also emerged to be the top medium for consumption of ads with 94% of consumers, followed by digital (82%), print (77%), and radio (29%). 

Meanwhile, looking into sectors, those advertisements from educational institutions received a very high level of trust at 82%. The report noted that the finding may be due to cultural factors, where Indians have a strong belief in education as a means to secure their future. 

Ironically, ASCI found that a significant portion of misleading ads come from the education sector.

ASCI’s job of monitoring the education sector is even more crucial, given these findings. In India, the poorest of people prioritize education spends over other necessities. Most educational institutions promise job guarantees or make false claims of being the No. 1 or guaranteeing 100% placement without any objective data or evidence. We are doing our best to make sure that such false advertising is removed from the market.

Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General, ASCI

The sector of home care products such as detergents and mosquito repellents also acquired high trust levels, where on the other hand, those ads from real estate brands were among the least trusted by consumers.

Turning the focus on consumers, in terms of taking action when they see a misleading or offensive advertisement, the study found that about a third of consumers are likely to discuss this with their family and friends, with another third making the move through a post on social media; however, almost 30% of consumers do not take any action.

Kapoor said, “I thank ISA for being a joint convener of the Trust in Advertising study. ASCI feels responsible for not only maintaining consumer trust in advertising but also guiding brands to advertise honestly and impactfully. Consumer trust and brand reputation are some of the most valuable assets an organization owns, and honest advertising is key to building brand value over the long term.”

Sunil Kataria, chairman of the ISA, said, “Brands are built on the back of long term communication with consumers and audiences. It is in the advertisers’ own self-interest to make sure that all communication is honest and truthful, so consumers can trust advertising messages, and thereby, brands.”

In September, ASCI announced that it has expanded its monitoring of misleading claims to include digital ads. The regulatory has also earlier released its official COVID guidelines for advertisers.

The study was conducted with people across age groups in 20 centers in India, including metros, smaller towns, and rural areas.

India – The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has released on Tuesday an official advisory for brands and companies in releasing COVID-19-related advertisements.

The authority said the guidelines are in response to a proliferation of ads with misleading claims around coronavirus cures and preventions.

In the statement, ASCI cautions ads that claim destruction or removal of any virus other than COVID-19, a violation of the authority’s clauses 1.4, and 1.5, pertaining to the distortion of facts and the misframing of information for consumers. 

In cases that an advertiser opts to include such claims, ASCI reminded that the disclaimer “claim not applicable to coronavirus (COVID-19),” or a similar message, must be displayed, and shown in the size and position aligned with ASCI’s specifications. 

Advertisers are also likewise warned to be extra conscientious in making, whether direct or indirect, claims in reducing the chances of becoming infected with the virus, or gaining immunity against it. In such cases, advertisers should be able to substantiate such claims with technical support by recognized or approved health authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), or any health organizations of similar stature. Support may also come from well-recognized medical and technical literature or by regulatory-approved clinical research conducted by a recognized medical institute and laboratory.

Similarly, the authority made mention that brands offering products that are not internally consumed or applied to bodies hence, those not requiring a license under the Drug & Cosmetic Act, must be particularly careful in making claims regarding the prevention, immunity, and treatment for the virus unless supported with sufficient data. 

In April 2020, the Ministry of AYUSH has released an order for regulatory authorities in the states and union territories on AYUSH, drugs that have been launched without any rigorous pharmacological studies and clinical trial, to stop and prevent publicity and advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19. In the guidelines, ASCI emphasized the order which restricts communications on print, TV, and electronic media. 

ASCI said the released directions are only the first of many steps to safeguard consumers from the plethora of misleading pandemic-related claims

Since the Ministry of AYUSH’s memo in April, ASCI has processed 250 violating advertisements and reported 233 from the healthcare sector to the ministry. 

General Secretary of ASCI Manisha Kapoor said that although the pandemic is a difficult time for everyone, even for brands, it isn’t a reason to resort to negligence.

“Manufacturers and brands have responded to consumer needs arising out of the pandemic. However, we want these products and advertisements to stick to claims and promises that are well backed by adequate substantiation,” said Kapoor.

Kapoor added, “We want advertisers to be more mindful in creating advertisements and making claims related to Covid-19. Given the pandemic and the extended lockdowns, people are obviously concerned.”

ASCI has already rolled out digital banners of the guidelines on its social media pages.

Mumbai, India – Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has extended its regulatory coverage to monitor digital platforms, and it will be procuring media intel TAM Media Research’s services to run the said function.

The regulation will cover search engines, video sites, news portals and websites for interests like astrology and automobiles. 

Initially, ASCI will track the food and beverage as well as the healthcare and education sectors on digital media as they accounted for 79% of the complaints processed by ASCI last year. 

According to ASCI, digital advertising made up for 30% of the total media spends in India. 

The extended function will be added to the already established print and TV tracking under the council’s National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) for potentially misleading advertisements, which is similarly in collaboration with TAM.

ASCI Chairman Rohit Gupta said, “We live in a world that’s becoming more digital by the day, so a lot of marketing is shifting to such platforms. For a self-regulatory body, it makes sense to expand our monitoring of the offline space to include the online space as well.”