Very recently, I read with great shock the hudge list of campaigns/ads hauled up by the ASCI (The Advertising Standards Council of India - the Indian ad industry's self-appointed watchdog) for being dishonest/questionable in their claims. The dubious list features names of who's who of the corporate world. Companies that boast of unblemished reputations. Multinats and large Indian houses led by businessmen and executives who are the role models of the MBA wannabes of our nation.In fact, according to the ASCI, in the last few months alone, they received as many as 75 complaints against ads, of which a whopping 30 were upheld!`Cases' in point: Novartis India's claim that their disposable contact lenses ensure there is no protein build-up. This claim was found to be totally false. The truth is that protein build-up is a natural biological phenomenon with all contact lenses. The ad was withdrawn. Symphony Comfort Systems unabashedly offered their Kaizan Air Cooler `at an amazing price Rs 3,990instead of Rs 7,200!' It was later found that as the price went down, so did the humidity control system in the machine! Clearly a misleading ad, withdrawn subsequently. HLL's Clinic All Clear Dandruff shampoo claimed it had ZPTO, the `special' ingredient in `Clinic All Clear' that stops dandruff. This claim was found to be untrue sine ZPTO is a microbiocide, when in reality, dandruff is known to be caused by several other factors, besides microbes. HLL's multi-crore research wing `clearly overlooked' this aspect! The ad has been discontinued.All this set me thinking. What kind of motivation drives these people to lie to their customers? Isn't anyone worried of the repercussions once it's all out in the open? Isn't there something called `ethical business practice' anymore? Or is it that I'm out of it, completely in the dark of the ways of the brave new world?To look for possible answers, we shall go back a little into the past.Once upon a time, marketers used to gloat of what is popularly knownas the `product USP,' the unique selling proposition. USP, by definition, is that key attribute which is unique to a brand, and cannot be/is not offered by a rival. Consider: If `small' was your style, you went in for a Maruti. If it was ruggedness that turned you on, Mahindra it was, and if you had an obese wife and 10 little tubbys to pack in, you signed up for the Amby. And so everyone lived happily ever after, with their own little USP labels guareteeing them a significant chunk of paradise.However, one fine day, somewhere in the early nineties, something unexpected happened. All of a sudden, India was seen as the `place to be in' by the global multinats, leading to a glut of brands in almost every product category. Suddenly, USP became nothing more than an unique joke, `United Selling Point,' so to speak, as unique features were duplicated by rivals in a matter of seconds. And what was left was a plethora of me-me-too brands, fighting over chunk of the `The Great Indian Middle-Class,' which eventuallyturned out to be the `Great Indian Illusion.'Today, the `USP' is well and truly bone-dry: product parity on every single parameter has made sure of that. And the marketers have been left with either piggybacking on the Shahrukhs and the Sachins of the world, in order to be noticed (as they really have nothing to say for themselves) or worse, have resorted to blowing a baloon filled with hot air so that their brands can fly high.The recent scandal involving Hindustan Lever's Wheel is a shining (pun intended) example of this trend. For years now the multinat giant has apparently been taking its customers for a lime-n-lemony ride, boasting of `nimbu shakti' in its Wheel det. powder. Suddenly, after all these years, the super-duper (heh, heh) marketer confesses: `Hey guys, we're sorry, but there ain't no lime out here.' In effect, the key reason why millions of gullible housewives bought the brand (the lemon power) did not even exist in the product! Quite conveniently, with a little help from thebehemoth's powerful PR machinery, the case has been hushed up. Undoubtedly, HLL's story is one of the blatant lie, but most others too tend to exaggerate every now and then. Which is why ASCI is flooded with so many protests of false claims.At this point, let me make it clear that the advertising agency's role, more often than not, is at worst that of an abettor of crime, or at best, that of an ignorant partner. I can't for the life of me decide which is the better of the two. Ammirati Puris Lintas, which is the ad agency for Wheel, in all probability, had no clue that nimbu shakti in Wheel was nothing more than an eyewash. A relationship between a client and an ad agency is built on trust, and when a marketer in his brief to the latter claims features his product is `endowed' with, the agency accepts the info in good faith.So eventually when the truth surfaces, the hapless agency gets a rap on the knuckles for something it didn't even know about in the first place. Every false claim has been hatched bythe manufacturer Take my word for it.Unfortunately, the number of false claims in advertising is likely to increase in the future (and that's not a false claim). Two reasons: One, the ever-increasing competition in every product category forces harried and unimaginative marketers to resort to underhand marketing strategies to gain an edge over their rivals, and two, because of India's knee-jerk crime laws on such cases.When there's isn't much to lose, our smooth men in black are always going to be taking their chances.Let's face it: HLL wouldn't dare to mislead its customers in America. Or Thailand for that matter. I'm willing to bet my last nimbu on that.
