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Dabur ad says, "Protection against COVID-19 with 2 spoons of Chyawanprash daily"
The last time Dabur ruffled feathers with a print ad was few months ago, with an immunity-based ad for Vedic Suraksha Tea.
In times when national vaccination against the deadly coronavirus is on, homegrown Ayurvedic brand Dabur has claimed that two spoons of Dabur Chyawanprash daily provides protection against COVID-19.
The claim has been made in the brand’s latest print campaign, currently being run across several national dailies.
The print ad featuring the face of the brand - actor Akshay Kumar, states that the claim is backed by a clinical study conducted across five centers – Jaipur (1), Mumbai (1), Pune (1) and Vadodara (2).
“In the last few days, danger of COVID-19 has resurfaced. So let’s protect ourselvesfrom this danger. Have Dabur Chyawanprash daily to increase immunity,” reads the half-page ad.
The last time the company had released a similar print ad was in December 2020 for its immunity booster tea – Dabur Vedic Suraksha Tea. The then full-page print ad’s copy read: Immunity is the strongest need of the hour. All you need is a cup of tea. At that time, we at afaqs! had raised a question in one of our articles - is it right for a major brand such as Dabur to tout its tea brand as ‘enough’ for all our immunity needs?
Alerting the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) about Dabur’s latest ad for Chyawanprash, brand consultant Ambi Parameswaran on Twitter questioned the reliability of the brand's study. Commenting on the tweet, netizens also questioned “if the claim is wrong, can the celebrity endorser also be charged, as per the new rule.”
While some in the comments said that a lot of it would depend on how he study was conducted and that the company should provide details of the same, many find the claim to be ‘utter bullshit and misleading crap’.