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Ramesh Narayan

If ad agencies don't want regulations to be imposed on their creativity, they should produce work which is not suggestive nor misleading

WE have grown up with regulation. We, free Indians, were not allowed to fly our national flag except under strict regulations.

We, young adult consenting Indians, are not allowed to sit on a beach and kiss our girlfriends. The long arm of legal regulations shoo us away.

We, adult Indians, at least those residing in Mumbai, may not be allowed to take in the delights of a dance bar because regulations prohibit it.

We, adult Indians, were almost prohibited from producing movies that show people smoking. We, literate Indians, are not allowed to publish advertisements that encourage cigarette smoking. The list is endless. We are living in a paradoxical world where the Internet could provide free access to porn, but cinema and other conventional media are being regulated.

Sections of our society rebel against any form of regulation whether it is moral policing or regulation of creativity.

Yet, the industry is allowed to produce and sell products that might be injurious to health. What is objected to is only its marketing.

Having said all this, the other side of the coin is represented by various interest groups. Women's rights groups have for long protested the exploitative presentation of women in advertising. Basically their ire is against women being projected as sex objects, or the perpetuation of gender bias.

On the other hand, consumer activists are quite harsh about the advertising industry misrepresenting facts and luring gullible consumers into making misinformed choices.

These are pretty serious allegations against the advertising industry and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has been set up many years ago to ensure self-regulation and consequently lead on to a situation where consumers do not feel this way.

Yet, why is it that whenever I talk about the ASCI to consumer activists they raise their eyebrows and say, "ASCI? What's that?"

I know ASCI is a fantastic association, doing a lot of good work in the area of self-regulation. I also know that it regularly advertises in the mass media exhorting consumers to bring complaints to their notice. I know that the advertisers, agencies and the media take the ASCI seriously (well, mostly). Then why is it that many consumer activists and most consumers do not seem to know about this body?

Again, when I read the compilation of complaints upheld by the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the body between January and March 2005, certain points come to my mind.

Before I comment, let us examine some of the cases. Kotak Mahindra Bank telecast a commercial (created by O&M) that says, `If money grows on trees, you could get your daughter married to a rajkumar, and son educated in the US'.

The CCC ruled that the distinction between the aim for the daughter versus the aim for the son is an apparent indication of gender bias which could be demeaning to women and could give rise to widespread offence. The TVC was modified.

An advertisement created by O&M for the brand, Wrangler, read, `Motorbike and hot chick not part of standard accessories.' The CCC examined a complaint and ruled that the copy read in conjunction with the visual depicted in the advertisement was suggestive, indecent and could cause widespread offence. The advertiser assured that the advertisement was a one-time insertion and would not be released again.

An advertisement, this time for Lee jeans, created by Grey Worldwide, did not elicit any comments from the advertiser in response to a complaint, and the CCC ruled ex parte that the visual depicted was suggestive, vulgar and likely to give rise to widespread offence. The advertisement was withdrawn.

Bajaj Electricals' printed information in a leaflet that was found to be false and misleading. This included information pertaining to the warranty period (2 years instead of the printed 5 years) and physical capacities of the various jars in the Bajaj FX 10 Food Factory.

Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic had an advertisement created by Dattaram where the claim `Permanent solutions for your skin diseases' was found to be misleading. The agency said the advertisement was a one-off insertion and the claims were modified even before receiving the missive from ASCI.

Let me place on record that I have great respect for companies such as Arvind (Wrangler and Lee), Bajaj Electricals and O&M.

Let me also say that I am selecting a few examples and not going into vulgar advertisements (as ruled by the CCC) of advertisers like Rocky S or into the misleading claims of massage parlours, power rings, herbal treatment centres, air consultants and the like.

The reason for this is that the track record of such advertisers and agencies make us expect a certain standard from them. And when even they come up with messages that are so obviously crying out to be regulated, it does not bode well for the industry. It is difficult to believe that large advertisers and reputed agencies are either ignorant or insensitive to such things.

I believe self-regulation is of paramount importance because the Government is waiting to do probably the only thing it does well. Regulate.

And the things it goes to great lengths to regulate and the manner in which it regulates would kill any genuine creative endeavour.

We are at a stage in the life of our country where great things are being looked forward to. Great things that will depend on the creativity and innovation that can be generated for them. The responsibility to remain creative in an unfettered manner lies solely on the industry. One hopes they will not misuse it.

(The author heads Canco Advertising.)

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