Three-fold rise in complaints against personal care ads since 2019: Asci

The biggest reason for violations was non-disclosures by the influencers, especially on digital platforms

The complaints against advertisements in the personal care category have tripled from 200 in 2019-20 (FY20) to 595 in the first three-quarters of FY23, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) said in a report on Thursday. In FY21, the self-regulatory body received 147 complaints against such ads. This rose to 531 in FY22. This year's number is expected to be much higher as complaints from Q4FY23 are still to be added.

Personal care was also the third largest ad norms violating category, accounting for 12 per cent of all the complaints in FY22 and the first three-quarters of FY23. Education, with 26 per cent, and Healthcare, with 15 per cent, were the top two most violating categories. The jump in violations in the beauty and personal care ads has been much steeper as compared to the other two categories.

The biggest reason for such violations was non-disclosures by the influencers. Three-fourths of the misleading ads were attributed to this. One-fourth was due to misleading claims. Overall, social media influencers were responsible for 68 per cent of the ads processed in the personal care category.

Also, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands were largely responsible for such violations.

"84 per cent of violative ads belonged to the D2C brands, which have a large presence on social and digital platforms," the report said.

Over half of all the violating ads were found on Instagram (55.3 per cent). It was followed by YouTube (25.9 per cent) and Facebook (11.3 per cent). The report further reflected how digital media has become the leading medium for ad violations.

"Earlier, most of the violative ads in the sector used to appear on Television. Data from 2019- 2021 shows that 41.3 per cent of the ads processed by ASCI appeared on TV. Digital and Print were almost at par at 31 per cent and 30 per cent respectively," it said.

"Since 2021, there has been a remarkable drop in the number of beauty and personal care television ads processed for potential ASCI code violation. The years FY20 and FY21 saw 150 objectionable ads on TV vs 54 ads seen in FY22 and FY23 (3 quarters). While the very high numbers on digital media are an outcome of ASCI's own proactive monitoring of the space, it has also to do with the sheer volume of advertising of the sector in the digital space. Social media platforms, websites, and e-commerce channels have all contributed to the high incidence of personal care ads on digital media," it added.

According to Manisha Kapoor, chief executive officer (CEO) and secretary general of ASCI, the sector is a high-engagement space, and the interest of users must be protected.

"Over the past few years, ASCI has constantly strived to update its guidelines to extend consumer protection to many emerging sectors and platforms. This, coupled with our AI-based digital monitoring is making a real impact in being able to identify violations and drive compliance," she said.