'Took action against 'Shot' commercial in 18 hrs': Ad watchdog chief

The Advertising Standards Council of India ASCI released guidelines on June 8 to guard against harmful gender stereotypes The event in New Delhi was presided by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani Some of those guidelines broadly say ASCI will consider an adrsquos likely impact when taken as a whole and in context The use of humour or banter is not likely to overcome the underlying issue of such harmful stereotypesThe event comes days after the Information and Broadcasting IampB ministry asked Twitter and YouTube to remove advertisements for Layerrsquor Shot body spray after they sparked widespread outrage for promoting sexual violence against women ASCI CEO and Secretary General Manisha Kapoor talks about the power the watchdog yields and its role in policing harmful tropes or stereotypes that may creep into advertisementsManisha KapoorExcerpts from an interviewWhen was ASCI alerted to the content in the adOn the morning of June 3 2022 The ad was potentially in serious violation of Chapter II of the ASCI code against offensive advertising After seeing it we immediately invoked a special process called lsquoSuspended Pending Investigation SPIrsquo ASCI wrote to the advertiser on the same day informing them about our decision and invited their response which was tabled before the Consumer Complaints Council CCCWas this a reactive measure Action only after outrageASCI looks at ads after they are released There is no provision for preclearance except for cinema ads and liquor brand extensions on TV both of which are precleared by the Central Board of Film Certification CBFC ASCI takes up consumer complaints as well as suo motu monitoring In this instance we acted swiftly SPI was invoked in less than 18 hours of the ad being releasedDo advertisements undergo a censor test like a movie Can the ASCI act before an ad is releasedThere is no legal requirement for advertisements to go through a censor clearance but voluntary due diligence can be done to avoid damage to brand reputation Advertisers and brands can avail of the Advertising Advice service from ASCI which can help them mitigate the risks at the preproduction stage This helps fewer violative ads reach the market which is good for consumer protectionDoes the ASCI have the teeth to get these ads pulled down without the IampB Ministryrsquos actionASCI is a selfregulatory body with a wellestablished code and a voluntary compliance rate of over 95 per cent In the past when ASCI has asked companies to pull down or modify ads they have complied Cases of noncompliance are escalated to the regulators for further actionOffensive is a grey area in all art where interpretations are subjective Does that make a task difficultThe ASCI code is sacrosanct and the CCC refers to it while flagging off offensive ads ASCIrsquos decisions are welldeliberated to represent how an average reasonable consumer might interpret the ad We do not look at things from the lens of a hypersensitive consumerThe communication landscape has changed with digital advertising How challenging is it to monitor ads on the InternetThere has been an explosion of advertisers and advertisements with the digital medium posing a massive challenge in monitoring We have made major investments in technology to monitor the digital landscape through use of AI This monitoring technology will continue to evolve to meet new challenges posed by digital mediaOur times are replete with distractionshellipDo ads push buttons for shock value to get instant attentionBrands and advertisers who are in it for the long haul need to understand that these hitand run tactics only work to the detriment of the brand They bring down the consumerrsquos trust in advertising They tarnish not only their own reputation but that of the entire industry Honest advertisers need to stand up and call out such cases