Introduction

Advertising is the widely used way today to promote products and services by any company. Through advertising, one can easily and conveniently spread awareness about one’ products or services to a wide range of consumers.

In the words of John W. Crawford “Advertising is an instrument in the hands of the people who use it. If evil men use advertising for base purposes, then evil can result. If honest men use advertising to sell an honest product with honest enthusiasm, then positive good for our kind of capitalistic society can result.”

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Misleading and False Advertising: How is it affecting the competition?
• Legal Regime against Misleading and False Advertising
• Other regulatory agencies framed to protect the interest of the Consumers
• Conclusion

Thus, advertising, when promoted and displayed in the right manner can lead to potential utilization of the product. Moreover, advertising at a vast platform can lead to majority of the public forming an opinion pertaining to a product, either good or bad.

And with the competition in the market increasing at a tremendous rate, with new competitors and new products entering market on a daily basis, consumers tend to get confuse as to which product to buy and which not to. However, vast options of the products are not the only problem, which creates confusion among the public. Another major problem is the duplicity and copying of the products. Thus, various intellectual property rights such as trademark and patents were provided to the owner of the original product, so that they can protect the interest of their product, with consumer being able to differentiate between the original and fake products at the same time.

However, even after intellectual protection being given to the owners of the products, the major issue, which creates confusion among the public, is false and misleading advertising.

Misleading and False Advertising: How is it affecting the competition?

Misleading and false advertisement can be said to be deceptive ads, which tends to mislead the target consumers into buying fake or copied products. They tend to change consumers mind by changing reality, thereby influencing consumer’s buying behavior. These false advertisements further prove to be dangerous as they frame a guide for the buying decisions of the consumers.

Furthermore, when similar looking products are being advertised, consumers tend to get confused as to the real and fake products and their purchasing decisions hinders in the wrong direction. While the main issue with misleading advertising is its falseness, which means misrepresentation of the facts, such advertisements tend to influence consumer behavior.

Legal Regime against Misleading and False Advertising

Various acts have been formulated by the legislature to curb such practices of false and misleading advertising in the form of Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, Consumer Protection Act etc. However, Indian Courts are still under constant pressure to broaden the base of relief against the counterfeiting offences in the marketplace. Such pressure is even more as initially Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act does not contain any provision to protect consumers from any kind of false or misleading advertisements.

However, in 1984 changes were made in order to maintain balance of fairness between consumers and the manufacturers. A commission known as Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices commission were empowered to prohibit company from publishing advertisements that were deemed false and misleading and which was against public interest.

Till 2002, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act was the only legislation dealing with such unfair and misleading advertisements. However, after 2002, with the advent of Competition Act, legislation provided another safeguard to the consumers. Competition Act further delegated all the cases pending before the MRTP Commission to the Competition Commission of India.

However, even after such safeguarding measures being taken by the legislature and framing of the commission, various cases have come before various commission across India pertaining to false and misleading advertising.

One such case is of Godfrey Philips India Ltd. v. Akshay Kumar, where the cigarette packets were being labelled in the name as Red and White with the tagline “Red and White smokers are unique” and picture of actor Akshay Kumar was printed on it.

It was argued that such athletic actor being associated with such a product could lead to deceiving the consumers regarding the harmful effects of the product.

National Commission held that printing of an actor which represents athletic and fitness symbol would be deceiving and misleading and thus, national commission allowed the appeal.

In another case titled as Consumer Guidance Society v. Amway India Enterprises, it was argued that Amway used to sell variety of products which were mislabeled as Nutrilite products, while they contain ingredients which do not depict such qualities. Therefore, it was held that Amway has used unfair trade practices and were directed to remove mislabeled products and advertisements.

In another case of misleading advertisement titled as Buddhist Mission Dental College and Hospital v. Bhupesh Khurana & Ors. the appellant college published an advertisement in the Hindustan Times inviting applications for admission in the Degree Course of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS).In the said advertisement it was specifically highlighted that the appellant college is a premier dental college of Bihar established and managed by the Vishwa Buddha Parishad. It was also mentioned in the advertisement that the said institution is the Buddhist Mission Dental College and Hospital under Magadh University, Bodh Gaya and Dental Council of India, New Delhi. But latter on it was found that the institute was neither recognized nor affiliated and the complainant student lost two valuable years.

Hon’ble Court supported the view of the National Consumer Redressal Commission that this was a case of total misrepresentation on behalf of the institute which tantamount to unfair trade practice. Hon’ble Court also directed the institute to pay an additional compensation of Rs. One lakh to each of the respondents along with cost of litigation and the amount of compensation imposed by National Commission within two months of the direction.

Thus, time and again it have been observed that commissions had to step in, in order to save the interest of consumers from manufacturers false and misleading advertisements.

However, it is not always that all the advertisements that does not disclose the complete truth are termed as misleading or false advertisements. In one such case titled as Reckitt & Colman of India v. Kiwi T.T.K. Ltd. it was held by the High Court of Delhi that a manufacturer has the right to make a statement that their products are the best and to make some declarations to inflate their products, and the same will not lead to Lawsuits give other distributors or manufacturers of similar products to initiate proceedings, as this is not a degradation or defamation of the manufacturer’s products. However, it was further held that a manufacturer has no right to claim that its competitors’ products are bad at bloating and promoting its goods.

Thus, it can be said that various legislations have been framed in order to safeguard the interest of the consumers against false and misleading advertisements. Legislation have come a far way from creating not only legislation but also various commission in order to prevent companies from promoting false and misleading advertisements.

Other regulatory agencies framed to protect the interest of the Consumers

• Advertising Standards Council of India: Advertising Standards Council of India rules were framed in 2006 through the amendment in Television Network Rules in order to protect interest of the consumers. As per rule 7, advertising must not be discriminatory because of race, caste, etc. on crime, disorder or incident or vulgar then it should be stopped immediately.
• Advertising Agencies Association of India:The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is the official national organization of advertising agencies established to advance their interests so that they continue to make a substantial and growing contribution to the nation.

Thus, apart from the MRTP Commission and Competition Commission of India, various authorities have been formed in order to curb such misleading and false advertisements.

Conclusion

Even after such stringent laws and various commission being formed to curb such misleading and false advertisements, cases of such deceptive advertisements have been coming across the commissions. Therefore, legislature needs to make more stringent laws in order to curb such practices.