Misleading Advertisements in Electronic Media

The Department of Consumer Affairs has launched an online portal called Grievance Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA) since March, 2015 for the consumers to file complaint online against misleading advertisements appearing in newspapers, hoardings, handbills, wall writing as well as advertisements in the electronic media such as TV channels, radio channels, internet sites etc. The number of complaints relating to misleading advertisements, as registered in the online portal, is as shown below:

The complaints received through the online portal GAMA are processed by the Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI) based on an MoU signed with the Department of Consumer Affairs. Complaints which remain unresolved are forwarded by ASCI to the Departments/Regulators concerned for further necessary action. Of the 4519 complaints, 2106 complaints have been resolved, 947 complaints have been rejected and the rest have been referred to the Ministries/Departments/regulators concerned for necessary action.

Further,  in  so  far  as  advertisements  appearing  in  private  satellite  TV  channels  are concerned, all advertisements telecast on such channels are regulated in accordance with the Advertising Code available on the website of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting “mib.nic.in”. The Ministry has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) under the chairmanship of the Additional  Secretary (I&B), and comprising officers drawn from various Ministries  such  as  Consumer  Affairs,  Home  Affairs,  Law  &  Justice,  Women  &  Child Development,  Health  &  Family  Welfare,  External  Affairs,  Defence  and  including  a representative from the Advertising Standards Council of India, to take cognizance sou motu or look into specific complaints regarding violation of the Programme Code and Advertising Code.

This information was given by Shri C. R. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, today.