ASCI shifts focus from policing to preventive measures; to launch training academy in 2023

Indian advertising fraternity’s self-regulatory body, Advertising Standard’s Council of India (ASCI), is often dubbed a toothless tiger.

ASCI has a set of best practices for the advertising industry - ASCI codes. The body notifies brands that violate its codes to alter or withdraw ads, however, the body does not have any mechanism to enforce compliance. 

While ASCI has a compliance rate of about 94%, a large part of the problem is that brands continue to develop and deploy ads that violate codes regularly. Often, millions of viewers watch an ad that violates ASCI codes for about two weeks before the ad is tweaked or completely withdrawn. 

It is under these circumstances that the industry body’s chief, Manisha Kapoor, is reimagining the role that ASCI plays in the ecosystem. “Policing in this ecosystem will be demonstrative and symbolic,” she says.

ASCI identifies ads that violate its codes suo motu, receives complaints from members, and the general public. It monitors advertisements on all mediums and is increasingly receiving more complaints about ads on digital mediums. About 55% of the complaints ASCI received in the first half of FY23 were for digital ads. “About 40% of media spends go to television, but the fraction of objectionable ads on TV is reducing and is down to less than 5%,” she says. 

Overall, close to 30% of complaints processed by ASCI were from influencers. And ads by influencers rake up millions of views and likes in a matter of minutes. The influencer ads are short-lived and by the time ASCI can flag such ads and recommend changes, it is too late. According to ASCI’s data, the volume of advertising creative units an average person is exposed to is 6,000-10,000 ads per day. 

The Central Consumer Protection Authority is now taking a serious look at punitive action against false and misleading advertisements, surrogate advertising, etc. The central body will have a stronger bite than ASCI.  

ASCI in the new world

It is for these reasons that ASCI is having internal debates and discussions about the direction it will take as an industry body in the years to come. ASCI is now shifting focus to preventive action. “In today’s day and age, the question is - how do we move the idea of self-regulation from the point of publication to the point of creation,” she says. 

Kapoor recognises that it is a hard road ahead. Preventive action, she hopes, will help creative advertising professionals and brand managers alike to tell whether a particular idea/script violates ASCI’s codes even before the ad goes into production. This she says will not only mean that consumers see fewer misleading ads, but also that advertisers face fewer disruptions in their campaigns. 

In September 2021, ASCI launched a paid service to offer advertising advice to brands. For a fee, ASCI will review scripts/storyboards and provide non-binding feedback. So far 40 ads have been screened by ASCI. Kapoor hopes that one day the ASCI check would be integral to creating an ad campaign. 

But that too is a tall order. 

The job of churning out ad campaigns comes with tight deadlines. Agencies barely manage to zero in on the right insight, come up with a creative idea that solves the business problem and get the ad approved and made in time. Running the ad by ASCI only adds one more layer of bureaucracy. 

For a more long-term impact, ASCI is planning to launch the ASCI Academy which will provide training and create awareness for all stakeholders of the industry about ASCI’s codes. Industry practitioners, corporates, students, and consumers will benefit from the programmes that ASCI will launch in 2023. “The training and development footprint of ASCI will grow immensely during the next 2-3 years,” says Kapoor.    

Focus Areas

After tackling issues about portrayal of gender in advertising, studying dark patterns in advertising, instituting guidelines for influencer marketing the industry body will address misleading and unethical advertising practices in edtech advertising and go deeper into influencer marketing.

“There are a lot of grey areas in influencer marketing which is a fluid space. It does not work on the same principles of traditional advertising.” ASCI will soon organise a summit in February 2023 to address this Rs 1,275 crore influencer marketing business. “The purpose of this summit will be to find ways to build consumer trust which is the ultimate currency for both brands and influencers,” she says. 

Kapoor has also identified edtech as a space that needs specific guidelines. While there are few players in the edtech market unlike several small sized non-descript educational institutions that frequently run misleading ads in print, edtech attracts huge sums of advertising money. “Edtech brands contributed to 5% of total misleading ads, these ads are extremely visible. These brands run national level campaigns too.” 

Ads from the edtech sector sometimes come with promises of 100% placement, best faculty, etc. The K12 segment is also large in the edtech market, “we see emphasis on certain subjects, depiction of exams as warlike situations which is not healthy for children and the society at large,” she says. ASCI has worked with UNICEF, child psychologists, academicians, and the industry to come up with a report that will be launched in early 2023.