International Journal of Business Ethics in Developing Economies

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Deceptive Practices in Indian Advertising: A Content Analysis of Print and Television Advertisements Violating the Guidelines of Advertising Standard Council of India


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1 Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India
     

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Whether ethical advertising is an oxymoron remains a subject of debate as it continues to evolve in the Indian mediascape. The academia has expressed strong reservations on fundamental motives of advertising while the industry vehemently defends the role and legitimacy of advertising in the integrated brand promotion mix. Amidst it all, it becomes even more significant to decode advertisements vis-a-vis acceptable norms of conduct. Therefore this paper attempts to analyze the content of messages in print and television ads that have been registered as violating the code of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). The results show that all deceptive practices exist across product categories. Ethical violations are on the rise because of the powerless nature of ASCI.

Keywords

Deception, Consumption, Misleading, Ethics, Violations, Self Regulation, Ad Literacy
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  • Deceptive Practices in Indian Advertising: A Content Analysis of Print and Television Advertisements Violating the Guidelines of Advertising Standard Council of India

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Authors

Kulveen Trehan
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India
Gaurav Kr. Singh
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India

Abstract


Whether ethical advertising is an oxymoron remains a subject of debate as it continues to evolve in the Indian mediascape. The academia has expressed strong reservations on fundamental motives of advertising while the industry vehemently defends the role and legitimacy of advertising in the integrated brand promotion mix. Amidst it all, it becomes even more significant to decode advertisements vis-a-vis acceptable norms of conduct. Therefore this paper attempts to analyze the content of messages in print and television ads that have been registered as violating the code of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). The results show that all deceptive practices exist across product categories. Ethical violations are on the rise because of the powerless nature of ASCI.

Keywords


Deception, Consumption, Misleading, Ethics, Violations, Self Regulation, Ad Literacy

References