INDIA BUSINESS WORLD SEPTEMBER (1^st - 15^th) 2007
The Month that was ...

USE OF SPORTS & FILM STARS IN ADS NOT MISLEADING: COKE, PEPSI TO SC

SOFT drink majors Coca-Cola and Pepsi told the Supreme Court that promotion of their products by popular sports personalities and film actors did not constitute misleading advertisements.

Senior counsels Harish Salve and KK Venugopal, appearing for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, respectively, told a Bench comprising Justices CK Thakker and Dalveer Bhandari that popular sports personalities promoting soft drinks does not constitute misleading ads. Rather it is one of the methods to popularise their products, said Mr. Salve. He wondered how an ad showing a sportsperson promoting Coca-Cola by describing it as 'refreshing' be called misleading?

It is not correct that consumers, especially children, are misled through such catchy slogans, Mr. Salve contended. Again, Rule 43(A) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1955, is in existence to deal with misleading advertisements, he added.

Under Rule 43(A), the promotion of soft drinks and other beverages through misleading ads amounts to commission of criminal offence for which an offending company can be prosecuted, said Mr. Salve. Rule 37 of the Act is also designed to deal with misleading ads, he added.

The soft drink majors opposed the plea of a PIL seeking regulation of alleged misleading ads for colas and beverages. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, alleged that consumers, especially children, were being lured through misleading ads for soft drinks. The government is reluctant to come up with an effective regulatory mechanism to control misleading ads for revenue purposes, alleged Mr. Bhushan.

Earlier, additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran, on behalf of the Centre, said an inter-ministerial group under the director-general of health services was considering what constituted 'misleading advertisements' to ensure action by the enforcing authorities is not challenged.

The health ministry is in favour of curbing alleged misleading advertisements, which are luring children. It is working out the modalities in this regard, Mr Parasaran said.