What are the provisions of the newly published CCPA guidelines? How does it deal with ads targeting children?
What are the provisions of the newly published CCPA guidelines? How does it deal with ads targeting children?
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) recently issued guidelines to prevent false or misleading advertisements. The guidelines are innovative in that they fill important gaps in consumer protection while explicitly defining advertisers’ obligations. The guidelines also attempt to discourage the promotion of illogical consumerism aimed at children. The problem of misleading, baiting, surrogate and child-targeted advertising has been rife for far too long. The guidelines serve a vital function in bringing India’s regulatory framework up to par with international norms and standards.
Definition of a “valid” ad
The guidelines set the conditions for non-misleading and valid advertising. In short, an advertisement can be considered not misleading if it contains a true and honest representation of the products and does not exaggerate the accuracy, scientific validity or usefulness or practicality. In the event of involuntary forfeiture, the ad can still be considered valid if the advertiser has acted quickly by informing the consumer of the breach.
It should be noted that instead of defining what constitutes “misleading or invalid advertising”, the guidelines sought to define “valid or non-misleading advertising”. This approach to policy writing greatly reduces the chances of any unintended loopholes being exploited.
Alternate Ads
“Substitute advertising” refers to the advertising of goods in the shadow of other goods. For example, tobacco advertising under the pan masala costume. Tobacco advertising as such is prohibited by law. While existing laws such as the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertising and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003 already seek to govern tobacco-related advertisements, manufacturers and advertisers were able to circumvent regulations through the gray area created by substitute advertising. The guidelines aim to ensure that these gray areas are filled with the black letter of the law, completely prohibiting any attempt to advertise products otherwise prohibited by law.
Advertisements targeting children
Another important issue addressed by the new guidelines is the discouragement of “advertising directed to children”. Ads that condone, encourage, inspire or unreasonably imitate behavior that could be harmful to children or that take advantage of children’s inexperience, credulity or sense of loyalty, etc. have been banned. It goes without saying that advertisements tend to influence children’s buying behavior and cause them to consume unhealthy products or develop negative feelings towards healthy products. The guidelines further require that products requiring a health warning not be advertised through children or music, sports and film personalities. Advertisements mentioning “any nutritional or health claim or benefit without being sufficiently and scientifically substantiated” or any surgical intervention likely to have harmful effects on the physical and mental health of children are prohibited. In addition, an advertisement may be considered to target children if the advertisement for any good, product or service that is directed to or targets children may develop a negative body image in children or create the impression that such goods, products or services are better than natural or traditional foods. . For example, advertisements for dairy additives often imply that the products have higher nutritional value for growing children, increase brain retention power during exams, strengthen bones in sports, etc., even whether these claims have yet to be scientifically proven. .
Young people are the most impressionable demographic for all advertisers. Catching them young is a well-known marketing strategy. Children can be influenced quite easily by advertisements – they are individually capable of making purchasing decisions, can influence the decisions of their parents and constitute the future adult population. A marketing strategy that seeks to play aggressively on the immaturity of young audiences can invariably impinge on their “right to choose” as well as their right to be informed and protected from dangerous goods and services as well as commercial practices. unfair.
In addition, the guidelines also require that advertisements including “crisps, soft drinks and other snacks and beverages” not be shown on channels aimed exclusively at children. However, it remains to be seen whether such a directive can survive a challenge under Article 14 and Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution as it infringes on the right of channels such as Cartoon Network to derive revenue from these advertisements.
Other reforms
The guidelines also introduced the need for “disclaimers in advertisements” to “clarify a claim made in such an advertisement or provide qualifications or resolve ambiguities in order to explain such a claim in greater detail”. Further, the advertiser must not “attempt to conceal material information regarding any claim made in such advertisement, the omission or absence of which is likely to render the advertisement misleading or conceal its commercial intent.” The guidelines require that the disclaimer be visible to normally sighted persons and placed prominently so that the consumer can read it carefully.
The guidelines also impose obligations on manufacturers, service providers and the advertising agency not to claim and make comparisons in an advertisement that relate to objectively verifiable factual matters. In addition, advertising must be designed to gain consumer trust and not to “abuse consumer trust or exploit their lack of experience or knowledge”.
Problems with enforcement of existing advertising laws have been solved by the guidelines insofar as they impose severe penalties. The guidelines are key to empowering customers to fight malicious advertisers. Advertisers must also learn from the guidelines and impose self-regulation to comply with them. While the guidelines are to be welcomed as a step in the right direction, it is absolutely necessary to ensure their implementation in the spirit in which they were drafted.
GSBajpai is Vice Chancellor Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab; the contributions of Sangeeta Tak and Ankit Kaushik are recognized
THE ESSENTIAL
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) recently issued guidelines to prevent false or misleading advertisements. The guidelines are innovative in that they fill important gaps in consumer protection while explicitly defining advertisers’ obligations.
An advertisement is valid if it contains a true and honest representation of the products and does not exaggerate the accuracy, scientific validity or usefulness or practicality.
In a significant movement, advertisements that condone, encourage, inspire or unreasonably imitate behavior that could be harmful to children or take advantage of “children’s inexperience, gullibility or sense of loyalty, etc.” were banned.
