Advertising Standards Council of India

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry. It was founded in 1985 and is an NGO. Objective of the ASCI is to maintain and enhance the public’s confidence in advertising. Its mandate is that all advertising material must be truthful, legal and honest, decent and not objectify women, safe for consumers – especially children and fair to their competitors.

Composition

• ASCI’s team consists of the Board of Governors, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) and its Secretariat.
• ASCI has 12 members in its the Board of Governors, four each representing the key sectors such as Advertisers, advertising agencies, media and allied professions such as market research, consulting, business education etc.
• The CCC currently has about 21 members: 9 are from within the industry and 12 are from the civil society like well-known doctors, lawyers, journalists, academicians, consumer activists, etc. The CCC’s decision on complaint against any ad is final.
• ASCI also have its own independent Secretariat of 5 members which is headed by the Secretary General.

Apart from ASCI, there is no other non governmental body in India which regulates the advertising content that is released in India. If an ad that is released in India seems objectionable, a person can write to ASCI with their complaint. This complaint will be deliberated on by the CCC after providing due process to advertiser to defend the ad against the complaint and depending on whether the ad is in alignment with the ASCI code and law of the land, the complaint is upheld or not upheld and if upheld then the ad is voluntarily either withdrawn or modified. In 2007, the Government of India amended the Cable TV Network Rules’ Advertising Code by which ads which violate ASCI code cannot be permitted on TV.