ASCI slams brands using Olympics winners in ads | Economic Times

Self-regulatory ad industry entity Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has said brands piggybacking on athletes winning medals in the Tokyo Olympics in their advertising without permission are in violation of its code.“When ads refer to or showcase celebrities without their explicit permission, such ads are in potential violation of the ASCI code,” said ASCI secretary general Manisha Kapoor, adding that such ads could be misleading to consumers, who may think that these celebrities genuinely endorse these products.Indian athletes including weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, badminton player PV Sindhu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain and wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya have won medals, while the men’s and women’s hockey teams have created history at Tokyo, leading to a surge of brands putting out ads and messages on social media, some directly leveraging the athletes’ names without permissions or contracts.The athletes’ names are being leveraged and linked to brands across corporates such as Aditya Birla Group, Apollo Hospitals and Perfetti Van Melle, to agencies such as BrandOnWheelz to out-of-home media agency The Brand Sigma.ASCI guidelines are not legally enforceable, but their violations are treated as a violation of government’s rules.