World Consumer Rights Day

Company Brief

Mumbai, March 14, 2011

World Consumer Rights Day occurs on 15 March every year. It is an international day of action and awareness, observed by consumer organisations and civil rights groups around the world. The date, 15 March, marks the day President John F. Kennedy told the US congress: 'Consumers by definition include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group... whose views are often not heard.'

Mr. Bejon Misra is the voice of the consumer of the country, known crusader for consumer movement in India and who has to his credit enactment of various rights for consumers in India. He is a Consumer Expert & Founder Healthy You Foundation. He has been in Indian Consumer Movement for the past 27 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Cell for Consumer Education and Advocacy (CCEA) Society and Managing Director & Trustee of Consumer Online Foundation. He founded several consumer organisations in India and networked with more than 2000 consumer organisations around the world. Bejon has been working with Governments at National, regional and international level on consumer protection policies. An active member within Consumers International and worked as consultant with several UN organisations. He has visited more than 30 countries, as member of Indian delegation and also Consumers International on inter-governmental negotiations on Treaties and Standards. He is a member of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and also a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), apart from several other leading professional bodies. He also intends to bring consumer related issues in developing countries as a thrust area in development and poverty eradication. His specialties include developing regulations and policies to empower the consumer and skills on comparative testing of products and services.

Leading consumer organisations in India who are members of Consumers International (CI), which represents 220 consumer organisations in 115 countries, released a set of international recommendations for strengthening consumer financial protection on 15 March, World Consumer Rights Day. The recommendations are in response to the G20 commitment to address consumer protection in financial services at the Seoul Summit in November 2010.

A strong regulatory authority on Standards of Advertising in India :

On a recent complaint made before the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) by a leading consumer organisation of India based in Delhi, Healthy You Foundation, against the T.V. Commercial of "Pureit Water Purifier", which is said to have appeared on several popular TV channels like Zee TV, Colors and others since December 2010 has been upheld by the Consumer Complaint Council (CCC) and has directed Hindustan Unilever Limited to immediately withdraw the advertisement as it violates the Code of Conduct of Advertising applicable to the members of ASCI.

As per the complaint made by Healthy You Foundation (HYF), the advertiser claims that "there is a Times of India report wherein a government institute, National Institute of Virology (NIV), has failed most of the water purifiers because they do not remove all bacteria and viruses". Since this laboratory report has not been made public nor the brands of purifiers failed have been reported, the advertiser has no right to show the products of different brands and disparage them. Also, the advertiser displays products which are identical to the competitors like "Kent Gold+ storage water purifier" which is a registered design.

The advertiser claims that "the same laboratory report states that only Pureit removes 1 crore viruses and this is proof of safety". This is a totally false claim as The Times of India very clearly states that the names of the brands which have passed or failed have not been disclosed. Further, in addition, the Advertiser should have provided supporting technical submission, details of tests/trials conducted, with comparative data in substantiation of the claim, "only" Pureit removes 1 crore viruses, which was missing and was not submitted to ASCI.

Bejon Misra's take on this :

It has come to our attention that HUL PureIt has taken out front page advertisements (see attached) in national dailies across India wherein they cite having met the "germkill safety" standards of US EPA. This advertisement for their recently launched Marvella variant, uses the same TCCA tablets for germ-killing as do all variants of PureIt storage water purifiers. Therefore, all the safety issues identified on PureIt by our study "Safety Issues Concerning Storage Water Purifiers" apply to PureIt Marvella, which is an online purifier. This is an example of misleading advertising implying US EPA has approved PureIt when in fact it has not and more importantly, the TCCA used in the manner and method in PureIt is in contravention to US EPA's strict regulations concerning the use of this chemical.

So, this advertisement is misleading on two counts - one is twisting of facts to imply germkill performance implies chemical safety, when in fact our study clearly showed both are entirely different. In fact, our study posits that consumers should choose safety first before performance. Killing efficiency of germs does not imply the underlying technology is safe - our study uses the following example to make the point: a small cup of household liquid bleach when added to water can kill crores of germs but does not make the resulting water safe to drink. Second misleading point is to take a chemical like TCCA that US EPA has clearly put restrictions on use and make in-home water purifiers (the entire range of PureIt) that violates US EPA's strict regulations concerning TCCA. The largest worldwide use of TCCA is for sanitizing swimming pools and even there, there are restrictions on how to administer it. To make an in-home water purifier out of such a chemical, and to give it the false and misleading assurance of "one crore safety challenge" is one of the most egregious examples of fooling the Indian public. The fact that public is fooled by the misleading marketing is amply supported by the estimated 3 million homes in India where PureIt has been sold making it the largest selling storage water purifier in organized sector - a risky safety 'experiment' on a grand scale in India.

We sincerely request the Goverment of India and Advertising Standards Council of India to issue stern warnings to HUL to withdraw its misleading advertising and to stop making atrocious claims until the underlying safety issues raised by our Study are resolved. Our Study has specifically asked for 3 letters from world-renowned regulatory and certifying agencies (namely, US EPA, WHO and NSF) specifically addressing the safety concerns about PureIt. Until these letters are produced by HUL, PureIt remains a potentially dangerous 'experiment' in mass scale conducted everyday in millions of lower income consumer households by HUL.

For further information, please contact:

Healthy You Foundation

Bejon Misra

Email: bejon@healthyoufoundation.com