“Advertising
is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something
they don’t need.” ~Will Rogers
An advertisement is a marketing tool
which is used for sales promotion and publicity. It is describing or praising
one’s own good or services. According to the American Marketing Association,
“Advertising is any paid form of impersonal presentation and promotion of
goods, services or ideas by an identified sponsor.” Advertisements are made to
influence the consumers to buy particular products or services of a particular
brand which is also known as ‘branding’. The consumer becomes familiar with the
product or services which helps them to make the right choice.
In today’s time where advertising is
such an important tool for increasing sales of a company product and helping
consumers to buy new and effective goods, there are also some companies who
display misleading advertisements for their own profit. False or Misleading advertisement means, an
advertisement that deceives or is likely to deceive anyone that sees it. The
result of such false advertisement is that the output which the consumer thinks
will be seen after using a particular product or service is just opposite of
that or even no results and here the consumer gets deceived. So, misleading
advertising affects consumers choices regarding what they buy. Misleading
advertisements violates consumers’ right to information and choice and thereby
causes financial loss and mental disturbance to the consumer.
Some examples of false
advertisements are- claims made about the characteristics of goods and services
contain a false statement of fact, the price or manner in which the price is
calculated, is misrepresented, the conditions of supply of the good or service
differs to that advertised, etc.
There are many negative impacts of
misleading advertisements. Advertisements related to health cures and drugs of
questionable efficacy are many times very harmful, as they can have a severe
consequence on health and safety of consumers; if they are taken without a
physician or a doctor’s advice. Many beauty products and weight loss medicines
related to misleading advertisements have been reported in the newspaper time
and again. They often lead to very low self- esteem, and dangerous impact on
the health of the innocent consumers. Advertisements related to height
increasing products also come under such misleading ad categories. Mostly no
results are produced from using such products but they only play with the mind
and pockets of the consumer.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, applies to advertisements for all
products in the market-place. A consumer may file a complaint related to false
and misleading advertisements which are included under unfair trade practices[1].
Some
other legislation related to controlling such false advertisements are Obscene
publication of advertisement of a lottery under the Indian Penal Code 1860,
Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Trade Mark Act, Drugs and Magic Remedies (objectionable
advertisement) Act etc.
Other
regulatory agencies are Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI),
Advertising Association of India (AAAI), Press Council of India (PCI), Prasar
Bharati, Code for commercial advertising on Doordarshan.
In
spite of this prohibitory legislation and existing regulatory authority, false
and misleading advertisement cases are nowadays increasing at a high speed
& is becoming a matter of huge concern. Some judicial decision taken in
this concern are-
In
Colgate-Palmolive Ltd. v. Anchor Health
& Beauty Care Pvt. Ltd.[2]Hon’ble
High Court held that the respondent is guilty of unfair trade practice, by
projecting their product as the only product containing 3 ingredients and as
the first product to provide all-round protection. The court hence in the
public interest passed an order to remove such misleading advertisement and to
issue a corrective advertisement in which words like ‘ONLY’ and ‘FIRST’ were
restrained from using.
In
Buddhist Mission Dental College and
Hospital v. Bhupesh Khurana and Ors.[3]Relying
upon the false advertisement by the Buddhist Mission Dental College and
Hospital many students took admission in the college and after several months
came to know that the claim made by the plaintiff to the respondents in the
advertisement as well as in the prospectus was false, because the appellant
college was neither affiliated to the Magadh University nor it was recognised
by the Dental Council of India. The Supreme Court directed the institute to
additionally pay compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to each complainant and also
directed the institute to pay the cost of litigation which is quantified at Rs.
1 lakh to each of the complainants.
Advertisement in today’s time is a
very important tool for making effective communication strategy. But at the
same time misleading and false advertisements can lead to many harmful results.
So, they must be properly checked and then floated amongst the consumers and
special care should be taken to protect the children, young communities and
patients from the evil of false and misleading advertisements. Also, it is the
duty of the consumer to be vigilant of what he/she is using and buy only
trusted and verified products.
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