Madhukar Kamath appointed chairperson of ASCI

Kamath has been a member of the ASCI board of governors for the last nine years

Madhukar Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer, Mudra, has been elected chairperson of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Kamath has been a member of the board of governors for the last nine years and has worked actively to support self-regulation in the advertising sector.

Dhananjay Keskar, director, International Business School, has been elected vice-chairperson. Rajiv Dube, president, Tata Motors (passenger car business unit), has been reappointed honorary treasurer.

Madhukar Kamath

Bhaskar Das

Bhaskar Das was the chairman of ASCI earlier. Das took over as chairperson last year. In an official communiqué, he says, “The past year was momentous with ASCI marking its foray into the Global Advertising Self Regulation movement and winning the prestigious Silver Best Practices Award of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) in the first year of its membership.”

Das adds, “The ASCI press ad campaign helped create greater awareness about ASCI and self-regulation.”

Kamath, who is all set to take over his new responsibilities, says in an official communiqué, “We aspire to take ASCI forward through an annual workshop on current issues in self-regulation. The focus in the year ahead will be to stimulate interest among the youth. This will be done through interactive presentations by the board members and the secretary general, along with case studies, at various management and media institutes across the country.”

During 2007-08, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) deliberated on 122 complaints against ads, of which 69 were upheld. In 52 cases, the ads were either withdrawn or appropriately modified. It is interesting to note that 75 per cent of the advertisers have complied with the standards set by the organisation, including 58 per cent who are not its members.

Other members of the new board of governors include Narendra Ambwani (Johnson & Johnson), Gopal Vittal (Hindustan Unilever Ltd), Shantanu Khosla (Procter & Gamble, hygiene and health care), Bhaskar Das (Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd), Vikram Kaushik (Tata Sky), G Krishnan (TV Today), I Venkat (Eenadu), Charles Cadell (Lintas India), Arvind Sharma (Leo Burnett), Srinivasan Swamy (RK Swamy BBDO), Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), Pranesh Misra (Brandscape Worldwide) and Partha Rakshit (AC Nielsen Research Services).

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