The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has recently published a new set of guidelines for the prevention of false or misleading advertisements and making endorsements relating thereto.
The CCPA has been established under section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 for regulating matters relating to violation of the rights of the consumers, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the interests of the public and consumers and to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.
The new guidelines are aimed at ensuring that consumers are not being fooled with unsubstantiated claims, exaggerated promises, misinformation, and false claims because, such advertisements violate various rights of consumers like the right to be informed, the right to choose, and the right to be safeguarded against potentially unsafe products and services.
The guidelines cover different facets of the creation and publication of promotional content for advertisements that can be categorized under unfair trade practices and defines “bait advertisement”, “surrogate advertisement” and clearly provides what constitutes “free claim advertisements”.
Keeping in view the sensitiveness and vulnerability of children and the severe impact advertisements make on the younger minds, several preemptive provisions have been laid down on advertisements targeting children. The new guidelines forbid advertisements from exaggerating the features of a product or service in such manner as to lead children to have unrealistic expectations of such product or service and claim any health or nutritional claims or benefits without being adequately and scientifically substantiated by a recognized body.
The guidelines are also reflective of the fact that disclaimers in advertisements play an important role from a consumer perspective as they serve to limit the responsibility of the company. In this view, the guidelines stipulate that disclaimers shall not attempt to hide material information with respect to any claim made in such advertisement, the omission or absence of which is likely to make the advertisement deceptive or conceal its commercial intent and shall not attempt to correct a misleading claim made in an advertisement. Further, it provides that, a disclaimer shall be in the same language as the claim made in the advertisement and the font used in a disclaimer shall be the same as that used in the claim.
Clear Guidelines have been laid out for the duties of the manufacturer, service provider, advertiser, and advertising agency, to carry out due diligence before endorsing others.
Penalties for violating the Guidelines are also clearly outlined.
“CCPA can impose a penalty of up to 10 lakh rupees on manufacturers, advertisers, and endorsers for any misleading advertisements. For subsequent contraventions, CCPA may impose a penalty of up to 50 lakh rupees. The Authority can prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from making any endorsement for up to 1 year and for subsequent contravention, prohibition can extend up to 3 years.”
Read the new CCPA guidelines for the prevention of false or misleading advertisements and making endorsements relating thereto, here.