Lies, all lies!

The problem with advertising is that it doesn’t just inform people…it tries to persuade, entice, lure and influence. This may be necessary for a brand’s growth and business growth, but therein lies the pitfall. Companies and brands are tempted to cross the line and blatantly lie and/or find loopholes in the law to promote their products. The ad on the right is a surrogate ad promoting alcohol although alcohol advertising is banned in India. Brand managers have targets to meet and if misleading advertising does the trick, there are no qualms.

Packaging and positioning of a product can also be misleading (marketing) and a case in point is Maggi ‘Atta‘ (whole wheat) noodles. Unless the marketer clearly mentions (on the pack) how much atta used in the mix, such positioning is misleading. Particularly so in India, as we do not even have a legal definition of what constitutes ‘whole-wheat’ flour. I have picked up an oil from the Dollar Shop here, which calls itself a blend of Olive and Soya Oil. On close scrutiny one realises that the Olive Oil is only 5 percent of the whole.

Any solutions?
One of the ways to sort out such blatant displays of misleading marketing and advertising, is regulation. Both by the government and the industry. Government generally does not interfere too much, barring laying out broad guidelines and setting legal limits. Companies find it fairly easy to get round the law. Often the advertising councils depend on consumers to make complaints, but in countries like India consumers are less aware and often do not complain. We have one of the lowest complaint rates here.

It’s ideal if the ad industry self-regulates. This is common in developed markets but while it may not have worked as well as it should, (as one commentator pointed out in a comment on a previous post on self regulation in India), it’s still needed. For India however, self-regulation is in it’s infancy and we need self-regulation in place as one of the measures to prevent misleading advertising.

The government needs to do more work too. In my view, children in particular need to be protected against misleading advertising and I hope India goes the way of countries like Sweden where all television advertising aimed at children under the age of 12 is banned.

But if one has to take a holistic view, advertising is needed for business growth and without it we will go back to the dark ages, literally speaking as access to information will decrease. So the answer is more control and more checks and balances. And of course a strong consumer awareness, which is sadly lacking in India.

And as far as I see it, if the ad industry doesn’t get it right soon, if it persists on pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes, the worse it will get for them. The cynicism and distrust which has crept in which increase as consumers get more aware and this can only harm brands, even the good ones. As a result, companies will be forced to spend more and more to try and convince consumers. It makes me wonder if the backlash against advertising will ever start to reverse…