Advertising Standards Council of India comes down on cosmetics ads

The figures for April of this year show that there were 124 official complaints against advertisements in India during that month, and of that total 82 of the complaints were upheld by the organisation.

However, drilling down further into these figures shows some very interesting statistics that point to the fact that the organisation is heavily policing ads from the personal care and health care category.

Most complaints fall in the personal care and health care category​

The first evidence of this comes from the fact that, of the total official complaints for the month of April, 46 were against products that fell in the personal care and health care category.

However, where the analysis gets really interesting is the fact that of the total 46 complaints that fell within the category, 44 of the complaints were upheld by the Advertising Standards Board – meaning that approximately 95% of all complaints against the category were upheld.

According to the organisation, some of the products had violated any number of rules outline in the ASCI Code, whereas a number of the health care products were contravened parts of the Drug & Magic Remedies Act.

The companies that were warned over their advertisements included some of the biggest players in the Indian cosmetics and personal care market, who are also number some of the biggest ad spenders in the country.

Hindustan Unilever and Oriflame make the list​

The biggest player to be reprimanded was Hindustan Unilever, which is the largest consumer goods company in the country, together with Kerala Ayurvedic Health Care, Oriflame India and Godrej Consumer Products.

Most recently the ASCI has upheld complaints against Innovative Cure Health and Beauty Clinic over its claim to a treatment for baldness that could not be substantiated, as well Power Soaps Limited for its Nature Power Soap, which included men teasing women.

The ASCI has also recently issued guidelines about claims for skin whitening products, which can be accessed by clicking here.​