Advertising Standards Council of India

The four main constituents of advertising industry, viz. advertisers, advertising agencies, media and allied professions came together to form ASCI. The aim of ASCI is to maintain and enhance the public's confidence in advertising. Their mandate is that all advertising material must be truthful, legal and honest, decent and not objectify women, safe for consumers - especially children and last but not the least, fair to their competitors.

Self-Regulation

Almost all professional fields have self-regulatory bodies governing their activities. For the advertising fraternity, until 1985 there was none. Due to this, there was a lot of false, misleading, and offensive advertising. This led to consumers losing faith in advertising and hence resenting it. It was decided that if this continued it would not take time for statutory regulations such as censorship to be imposed on advertising content.

In 1985, the ASCI adopted a Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising. With the introduction of the code, the aim is to promote honest and decent advertising and fair competition in the industry. It will also ensure the protection of consumer interests and all concerned with the ad industry - advertisers, media, advertising agencies and others who help in the creation or placement of advertisements.

As the fraternity starts accepting the code, it will result in fewer false claims, fewer unfair advertisements and increased respect for advertisers.