Alcohol surrogacy conquered: Next up…

As the Indian Premier League continues, Jio and Star continue making several claims concerning the advertisers they’ve attracted for the broadcast of the tournament this year.

 

While this is the first year the TV and digital rights have been split, we’ve observed one more change. And one change for which we believe we can give ourselves a tap on our back.

 

Campaign India, along with Sandeep Goyal and Carol Goyal, have been batting for advertisers in the liquor industry, and the Advertising Standards Council of India, to take note of the law of the land, and ban surrogate advertising.

 

What began in April 2018, has finally come to an end in 2023. So far, the coverage of the Indian Premier League on television has been free of surrogate alcohol advertising. So no ‘music CDs’ and ‘Get togethers’.

 

But that doesn’t mean surrogate advertising has stopped.

 

We’re now seeing betting companies, portraying themselves as news portals and advertising during the IPL.

 

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to the media about carrying ads from betting sites. This started in June 2022 with an updated advisory shared earlier this month. 

 

The MIB has urged the media to not depict these betting sites as news websites and prevent surrogate advertising for these sites. While issuing the advisory, the Ministry had mentioned the fact that betting and gambling is illegal and hence advertisements/promotion of such activities directly or indirectly on media falls foul of the various statutes, including under that of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 etc.

 

And then there’s the small matter of the pan masala ads. Both Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, who appear in ads for rival pan masala brands, have pulled out as endorsers. But that doesn’t prevent the brands from airing those ads during the tournament and attracting audiences towards consuming these products. Perhaps, it’s time to put an end to these advertisements too.

 

During this crusade against surrogate advertising, we’ve many-a-time been told that we need to get a drink and chill. We are not against liquor advertising at all. But if it’s the law of the land, then that’s what it is and that’s what we are trying to call out.

 

Over to the authorities to now take note of betting sites and pan masala!