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ORGANISATION
: The Board of Governors (16 members)
ensures equitable representation of Advertisers, Agencies,
Media and other Advertising Services, the individual
member firms being leaders in their respective industries or services. The CCC (21
members) has 12 Non-Advertising professionals
representing civil society, who are eminent and recognised
opinion leaders in their respective disciplines such as Medical, Legal, Industrial Design, Engineering, Chemical Technology, Human Resources and Consumer Interest Groups; 9 are advertising practitioners from our member firms.
The CCC met 12 times from April 2008 to March 2009. It considered a total of 137
complaints, of which considered 66 were UPHELD, 68 were NOT
UPHELD, and 3 were NON-ISSUES. Ninety four
percent of the complaints Upheld by the Consumer Complaints
Council (CCC) resulted in advertisements being either withdrawn
or modified appropriately. Implementation of CCC decisions - as a result of prompt and effective follow ups, there have been positive responses received from advertisers and agencies, in respect of CCC recommendations on complaints which were Upheld. There has been a number of instances wherein advertisers/agencies have withdrawn or modified their advertisements appropriately, merely on their being approached by ASCI for comments in respect of complaints received. The acceptance of ASCI’s role in judging
complaints against advertisements, in the interest of all Practitioners in Advertising and Consumers who are the targets of such advertisements, is demonstrated by the fact that during the year the advertisers/agencies have not yet informed the Council of their compliance with the CCC decisions, in respect of only 4 complaints.
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of Complaints decided upon by the CCC |
Of the 137 complaints'
processed, there have been 30 intra-industry complaints received from advertisers and agencies, in respect of misleading
comparative advertising and unfair competitive
advertisements,
of which 18 were Upheld, whilst 12 were Not Upheld. Eighty
nine percent of these Upheld complaints have been modified
appropriately or withdrawn. The Council has played
a fair and supportive role in ensuring that such complaints were
dealt with promptly, were treated with the confidence which
they deserved, and was instrumental in mediation with advertisers
and agencies concerned, thus avoiding time - consuming
and costly litigation in many instances.
Quarterly Compilation Reports of CCC decisions to members
on consumer and industry complaints against advertisements,
provide current background information, which represents
valuable case/reference material for proactive
Observance of the Code for Self-Regulation, when the creative is
on the drawing board and the advertisement is under development
Our Secretary General may be contacted on (022) 23513982
- phone and (022) 23516863, fax, or e-mail: asci@vsnl.com
for
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Clarifications
or additional background information if required, |
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Complaints
against advertisements which are considered false, misleading,
objectionable or offensive, |
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Requests
for particulars of Membership of ASCI, |
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A free copy of the ASCI Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising
is available on request.
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