Other Measures to Be Considered

magazines, television, radio, cinema and posters. Clause 6 of the Code provides that advertisement of products for which advertising has been restricted should not circumvent the restriction by purporting to be advertisements for other products, the advertising for which is not prohibited. This clause also lays down the criteria for deciding whether an advertisement is indirect advertisement. To determine if there is an indirect advertisement of prohibited products, due attention shall be given to the following: a) Visual content of the advertisement must depict only the product being advertised and not the prohibited or restricted product in any form or manner. b) The advertisement must not make any direct or indirect reference to the prohibited or restricted product. c) The advertisement must not create any nuances

or phrases promoting prohibited products. d) The advertisement must not use particular colours and layout or presentations associated with prohibited or restricted products. e) The advertisement must not use situations typical for promotion of prohibited or restricted products when advertising the other products. products are not visible even if such brands support international events. advertisements for different products under a single brand name, for instance by amending the Trade Marks Act. from consumers against surrogate advertisements and take appropriate actions immediately. help people understand the negative impact of surrogate advertisements. surrogate advertisements without any real existence of the product. knowledge of the products under the same brand for which they are promoting advertisements, and take legal actions against those agencies that design surrogate advertisements. spread their net to include new electronic media like the Internet, email and CD-ROMS, print and outdoor media, asking them to adhere to advertisement codes and not encourage surrogate advertisement.

With greater awareness, it is expected that consumers will think rationally and not be swayed by emotional and surrogate advertising before making a purchase. As for the advertisers, they may pay some heed to what Leo Burnett had said – “Let’s gear our advertising to sell goods, but let’s recognize also that advertising has a broad social responsibility.” ‘A petition was filed in 1999 before the High Court of Delhi by the Voluntary Health Association of India, where a ban was sought on the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team by the Wills brand of cigarettes manufactured by ITC. The appearance of the Wills logo on the sports apparel worn by the cricketers facilitated the repeated telecasting of that logo to millions of viewers. During the pendency of this petition, ITC voluntarily withdrew its sponsorship of the Indian cricket team in 2001 citing the reason that it did not want to derail the genuine efforts of the government and that it did not want to take undue advantage of its position in the Indian economy.’ – ‘ITC plays Good sport, exits sponsorship’, Hindu Business Line,

9 February 2001’