Celebs in ‘misleading’ ads may end up in jail

PANEL’S MOVE COMES AFTER CELEBS RECENTLY CAME UNDER FIRE FOR PROMOTING BRANDS & ALLEGEDLY MISLEADING THE CONSUMERS

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday recommended stringent provisions, including jail term up to five years and hefty penalty of up to `50 lakh, for celebrities involved in misleading advertisements.

The panel’s move comes after some celebrities recently came under fire for promoting brands and ‘misleading’ consumers. Cricketer MS Dhoni had to recently resign as brand ambassador of realty firm Amrapali after residents of a housing society protested against the builder and the cricketer on social media.

In its report on the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the panel suggested legal teeth to advertising watchdog, Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI), to curb misleading ads besides proposing penalties, jail and cancellation of license of those involved in food adulteration. “The committee strongly feels that misrepresentation of a product, especially of food products, should be taken very seriously considering the influence of celebrities and high networth individuals and companies. The existing laws are not deterrent enough to discourage manufacturers or publishers from using such personalities for misleading ads,” the panel on Consumer Affairs said in its report. The panel, therefore, recommends that stringent provisions be made in the bill to tackle misleading ads, as well as, to fix liability on endorsers, it said.

The panel said for a first-time offence, the offender may be punished with either a penalty of `10 lakh or imprisonment up to two years or both. For a second offence, it recommended a penalty of `50 lakh and imprisonment of five years. The committee, headed by Telugu Desam Party MP JC Divakar Reddy, said the department of consumer affairs should be empowered to make laws to regulate growing sectors of e-commerce, direct selling and multi-level marketing where consumer complaints are on the rise.