According to the new Consumer Protection Bill passed by the Indian government, celebrities will have to face a ban of 3 years and up to 50 Lakh if they mislead audience to buy products. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 is introduced by Ram Vilas Paswan, in the Lok Sabha. The new bill can replace the 31-year-old law. The main objective of this new bill is to minimize the misleading advertisements that are increasing very quickly.
According to this bill, if any advertisement is found to be false or misleading, the government has the rights to issue directions to endorsers, advertiser to discontinue or modify such ad. Along with this, the CCPA will have complete authority to impose a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh on endorsers and manufacturers and for the subsequent violation, the fine can go up to Rs 50 lakhs. Not only the ad and the celebrity but the product along with manufacturer can be banned for 3 years in this case.
“No endorser shall be liable to a penalty if he has exercised due diligence to verify the veracity of the claims made in the advertisement regarding the product or service being endorsed by him,” a small portion of the bill read. However, no penalty or ban will be applied if the publisher proves that the advertisement was published just to provide knowledge about the product increasing the business.
2017 saw so many cases of misleading ads which were found non related to the product. Indian audience is now becoming aware about the fact that big companies hit their psychology by featuring big Bollywood and cricket stars in the ads. Just a few days ago government had restricted the airing of condom ads on TV from 10 pm to 6 am only.
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