In a bid to keep up with the times and make the country’s advertising landscape more inclusive, the Advertising Council of India has updated its advertising code of conduct to avoid insensitive portrayals of gender identity and sexual orientation, physical and mental health conditions, body types, or even age in ads.
The self-regulatory body, the Advertising Standards Council of India, or ASCI as it is commonly known, had reportedly It stopped ads from mocking people based on race, caste, creed, gender, or nationality a long time ago. But now, learning of new targets for discrimination and ridicule, it has updated Chapter 3.1(b) of the advertising code to include a broader range of harmful depictions.
Like Sharad Vadehra of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance explained, ads that violate the code may be removed, if the ASCI determines that their content violates the code. Through this update, ASCI has, in short, enabled people to access the proper legal channels to seek relief.
“We have seen consumers advertise ads that make fun of or ridicule people, or portray them unfavorably. And it is fair that advertising becomes more inclusive and sensitive to this. It is not acceptable, for example, to associate characteristics such as slowness with a certain body shape. Similarly, ridiculing someone with a physical or mental ailment, or her gender identity, would now violate the ASCI code,” Manisha Kapoor, CEO and Secretary General of ASCI, said. “With this change, ASCI hopes to ensure that advertising becomes more inclusive and sensitized to all sectors of our country, and does not perpetuate certain representations that have no place in a progressive society.”
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To identify what Indian consumers find “offensive”, the advertising watchdog conducted an analysis of 1,759 complaints against 488 advertisements made in the three-year period between 2019 and 2021. Published in January this year, The report titled, “What India is offended” I observe six themes that offended most of the complainants, mainly related to making fun of men and questioning “Indian culture and values”. According to the report, the depiction of “unpleasant” realities such as menstruation was also offensive to many.
Fortunately, ASCI then pointed out that the media does not necessarily have to bend to the will of the people, and although “some thoughts and representations may seem jarring at first, not all of them are harmful. In fact, some could help establish more progressive and equitable narratives.”
The present embargo is not a divergence from that perspective. Unlike ads that were found offensive in the report, teasing people based on their gender, sexuality, health and body type is actually harmful as it reinforces unhealthy stereotypes. “Stereotypes are harmful because they are unfair assumptions and not based on facts. We should get to know people as individuals before developing beliefs about what that person is like… People are complex, and stereotypes often reduce us to just a small part of our complex identity.” grades an article from The Diana Award’s anti-bullying program.
“Depictions are welcome, we would like more diversity and inclusion in advertising, but we don’t want them to be disrespectful. The idea is not to make people look like caricatures and put them in ads just to make fun of them,” Kapoor said.
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