In addition, Indians objected to ads that are inappropriate for children, show socially undesirable depictions for commercial gains and depict “unpleasant realities” such as visuals of raw meat in ads by fish and meat e-commerce platforms, Fresh to Home and Licious.
“The advertisement shows chicken products in a very crude and disgusting way. It seems to lure its viewers in a direct graphic manner, which is very disturbing for vegetarian families like us who have to watch these unwanted visuals on family TV channels,” a complainant wrote about a Licious ad to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which has released these findings in its latest report.
The advertising watchdog, however, said that not all complaints taken into account violated its codes.
In the case of ads mocking men, commercials where they were depicted in a negative or poor light, even in humorous or introspective ways, such as in a Cars24 ad where two women compared returnable vehicles to husbands or an ad on an THERE platform where a girl was found to be “violently” slapping a boy were considered offensive by some.
“One could say that Indian men are becoming more sensitive to a certain extent but this is more about a sense of victimisation, as women have become more assertive over the years,” Santosh Desai, MD & CEO at Futurebrands Consulting told TOI.
Campaigns that were found to be inappropriate for children, included one featuring Sebamed baby bath product where a complainant was disturbed by the curiosity shown by his/her daughter, on seeing a pregnant lady in labor.
Even a Parle Kismi toffee ad wherein a pre-teenage girl asks her boyfriend for a kiss evoked comments such as: “It promotes child/teenage sexuality or ‘puppy love’ and physical intimacy amongst pre-adults.”
Ads portraying mixed religious narratives or depictions of new interpretations of traditions became a trigger point for another set of complainants, who questioned the intent and felt the need to guard against ‘conspiracies’.
Recently, several brands from Tanishq and Fabindia to designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee were forced to withdraw their campaigns due to the same reason.
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