MS Dhoni, Bhuvan Bam among top celebrities violating advertising rules, reveals ASCI report

ASCI claimed that the complaints against the celebrities witnessed an 803 per cent jump to as many as 503 advertisements compared to 55 last year.

The self-regulatory authority for advertising, ASCI, reported on Wednesday that complaints against celebrities had significantly increased and that many had neglected to provide proof of due diligence. The regulatory authority published a list of celebrities who had not performed the requisite due diligence, with comedian Bhuvan Bam and cricketer MS Dhoni at the top of the list.

ASCI claimed that the complaints against the celebrities witnessed an 803 per cent jump to as many as 503 advertisements compared to 55 last year.

"In spite of the Consumer Protection Act now legally requiring celebrities to do their due diligence when they appear in ads, in 97 percent of cases processed by ASCI featuring celebrities, they failed to provide any evidence of due diligence," the report said.

According to the regulatory agency, MS Dhoni is at the top of the list of famous people who failed to perform essential due diligence and were involved in ten cases of non-compliance. Seven instances of non-compliance were added to MS Dhoni's list by comedian Bhuvan Bam of YouTube.

Gaming, classical education, healthcare, and personal care were the industries with the highest rates of problematic content and advertising laws violations, according to ASCI research. Over half of the overall breaches fell into these categories.

The self-regulatory authority for the advertising business received 8,951 complaints in total for the fiscal year 2023. 7,928 commercials from various media forms were examined for possible infractions due to these complaints. Notably, 34 of the processed advertisements were discovered on digital media sites.

"This (violation on digital media) raises serious concerns about the safety of consumers in the online space," the body said.

Influencers are involved in one-fourth of all complaints made to the ASCI, with personal being the most common offender.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) describes itself as an independent, self-policing organisation created to ensure that ads in India are truthful, ethical, and adhere to the ASCI Code.