92% advertisements for real money gaming did not adhere to guidelines in FY23, says ASCI report

The Advertising Standards Council of India's annual complaints report also revealed a sharp increase in the number of misleading ads featuring celebrities and influencers.

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New Delhi: The gaming industry emerged as the biggest violator of advertising guidelines, followed by education, healthcare and personal care sectors between April 2022 and March 2023, according to a latest report by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

The ASCI Annual Complaints Report for 2022-23, released Wednesday, reviewed 7,928 advertisements on print and digital mediums as well as television channels. According to the ASCI report, TV and print advertisers continued to be highly compliant, at 94 per cent. But the overall compliance rate stood at 81 per cent due to violations by digital advertisers.

“Seventy five per cent of violative ads spotted on digital media raising (raised) concerns about the online safety of consumers,” the report noted. It said gaming overtook education to be the largest violator (15 per cent), followed by education (13.8 per cent), healthcare (13.4 per cent) and personal care (13.2 per cent) segments.

While a majority of advertisements (93.5 per cent) across platforms violated guidelines related to honest representation, 6.2 per cent ads violated guidelines on promotion of products that are regarded as hazardous or harmful to the society/individuals.

The ASCI, which was established in 1985, is the self-regulatory body of the Indian advertising industry. It looks at advertisements across all media platforms as well as claims made on packaging, for dishonest or misleading ads, indecent or offensive ads, harmful ads or ads that are unfair in competition.

According to its latest report, the real money gaming industry surpassed the education sector to emerge as the most violative sector, moving from the fifth to the first place in 2022-23. Nearly 92 per cent of gaming advertisements reviewed by ASCI for FY 2022–23 did not adhere to the guidelines for real money gaming and failed to inform consumers about the risks of financial loss and addiction, the report said.

“ASCI had released its guidelines for the real money gaming sector in December 2020, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had thereafter released an advisory asking all parties to comply with the guidelines,” it said.

Manisha Kapoor, CEO and secretary general, ASCI, said, “The complaints analysis for 2022–23 clearly shows that the digital medium is leading in terms of violative ads. This raises significant concerns around online consumer safety and trust. Advertisers, content creators and platforms must come together to address this issue on an urgent basis to protect consumer interests. In addition, the sharp increase in the number of violative gaming ads needs serious attention from the industry.”

Misleading ads featuring celebrities/influencers

The report also revealed a sharp increase in the number of misleading ads featuring celebrities and influencers.

“ASCI processed 503 such ads (related to celebrities), as opposed to 55 the previous year, a growth of 803 per cent. In 97 per cent of these ads, the celebrities failed to provide evidence of due diligence as mandated by the Consumer Protection Act. This again is a serious issue as ads featuring celebrities have a high impact on consumers,” the ASCI said in a statement.

It added that influencer violations stood at 26 per cent, with 2,039 complaints being processed against them. Personal care, food and beverage, as well as fashion and lifestyle categories topped the list of influencer-related violations.

ASCI also said that its adoption of artificial-intelligence-based tracking has bolstered its ability to scrutinise digital media effectively, despite challenges, such as the pace of advertising and the sheer number of ads to be processed.

“The ASCI Annual Complaints Report serves as a wake-up call to advertisers, platforms, and regulators, urging them to join forces and create a secure environment and foster trust among consumers,” the statement further said.