Shivani Thakur
Published on: June 12, 2022 at 15:30 IST
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued new guidelines to safeguard individuals from being abused or harmed by deceptive marketing across all platforms — regardless of shape, format, or medium — and has outlawed surrogate advertising entirely.
The ban on surrogate advertising gains importance considering that they promote regulated products like cigarettes and alcohol.
The notice prohibits marketing from inflating a product’s or service’s features in such a way that children develop unreasonable expectations of them.
According to the criteria, commercials for products that require a health warning or cannot be purchased by children must not include any celebrities from the sectors of sports, music, or film.
According to Nidhi Khare, the CCPA’s Chief Commissioner, the new guidelines require manufacturers and advertisers to identify the source and date of independent research or assessments in advertisements that claim to be based on or supported by such research or assessments.
She added, “All disclaimers in an advertisement must be in the same language and same letter size so that people can read them easily. If promoters or shareholders are endorsing something, they have to disclose this.”
The violation of norms may attract imposition of a fine up to Rs 10 lakh for first offence and up to Rs 50 lakh for subsequent ones.