Mumbai. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in April found 50 advertising campaigns of Ayurvedic and homeopathic pharmaceutical companies claiming treatment of Kovid-19 as misleading. ASCI has informed the Central Government about this action.
ASCI said in a statement that these advertisements have aired on various media platforms. ASCI said that these advertising campaigns violate the order of April 1, 2020, of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH). This order prohibits publicity and advertising related to Ayush.
It is worth mentioning that a day earlier, Baba Ramdev’s company Patanjali Ayurved had announced to introduce the medicine for the treatment of Kovid-19. Hours after that, the Ministry of AYUSH stopped the promotion of this drug as a medicine to treat Kovid-19.
ASCI said that the Ministry of AYUSH had asked her to give information about such advertisements. The council has also released a list of 50 such companies that claimed to have introduced the drug for treatment of Kovid-19 in April.
Interestingly, this list also includes units that were promoting the homeopathic drug ‘Arsenic album 30’ as a coronavirus defense drug. However, no major brands are included in this list. Most of them are local companies operating in different parts of the country.
Apart from this, ASCI also termed 91 other cases of possible violations of the Ministry of AYUSH medicine and miracle treatment rules as misleading. The list includes companies that are claiming treatment for diabetes, cancer, sexual problems, blood pressure, and mental stress.
Meanwhile, ASCI has also termed the advertisement of Hindustan Unilever’s Advanced Multi-Vitamin brand as ‘Fair and Lovely’ brand misleading. Other major brands that the council has objected to in April include Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, FCA India Automobiles, Gophers, MakeMyTrip and Indigo Airlines.