Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvan Bam: ASCI flags these celebrities for violating advertising rules, know why

Advertising self-regulatory body ASCI has informed about the significant hike in complaints against celebrities such as Cricket Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, YouTuber Bhuvam Bam and others on Wednesday for not following required due diligence and many of them have failed to submit any evidence. 

As reported by ASCI, the number of complaints involving celebrities increased by 803% in FY23, from 55 to 503 advertisements. One in every four ads processed by the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) in 2022-23 had a violation by influencers, according to the report.  

The list of celebrities has names like Virat Kohli (Cricketer), MS Dhoni (Cricketer), Bhuvan Bam (YouTuber), Shraddha Kapoor(actress) and Kriti Sanon (actress). 

According to the regulatory agency, MS Dhoni is at the top of the list of famous people who failed to conduct essential due diligence and was involved in ten cases of non-compliance.

Our Annual Complaints Report 2022-23 is out now! The #report findings are based on a large base of 7928 ads which were scrutinised by #ASCI - a 2x increase over past 2 years.
Rread the interesting insights & full report - https://t.co/YGkW96mshC#Advertising #Marketing #Digital pic.twitter.com/7BNjqI63F8

— ASCI (@ascionline) May 17, 2023

"In spite of the Consumer Protection Act now legally requiring celebrities to do their due diligence when they appear in ads, in 97 per cent of cases processed by ASCI featuring celebrities, they failed to provide any evidence of due diligence," the report said.

Personal care advertisements topped the list of influencers' most frequent ad infractions during the year, according to the self-regulatory group, which handled a total of 2,039 (or 26% of the total) complaints against them. Food and drink and fashion and lifestyle came after it.

The "Annual Complaints Report 2022-23" found that 92% of gaming advertisements omitted the necessary disclaimer that alerts customers to the risks of addiction and financial loss. Regarding the number of ad breaches, the healthcare and education industries were second to the gaming sector. Gaming lawbreakers include MPL, WinZo, My11Circle, and PokerBaazi on their list.

"TV and print advertisers continued to be highly compliant at 94 per cent, however, the overall compliance is lower at 81 per cent due to digital," the report mentioned.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) describes itself as an independent, self-regulatory organisation that was created to make sure that ads in India are truthful, ethical, and adhere to the ASCI Code. 

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