Advertising Ethics & Laws

UNIT 13 ADVERTISING ETHICS & LAWS

Structure
13.0 Introduction
13.1 Learning Outcomes
13.2 Advertising Laws in India
13.2.1 Early beginnings
13.2.2 Important laws relating to Advertising
13.3 Ethics of Advertising
13.4 Advertising Codes
13.4.1 Bodies Governing Advertising Ethics in India
13.4.2 Advertising Standards Council of India
13.4.3 Difference between Laws and Codes
13.4.4 Future Needs and Challenges
13.5 Let Us Sum Up
13.6 Further Readings
13.7 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers

13.0 INTRODUCTION
After going through the units on this course, you would have learned that media
ethics and laws are extremely important for the students of mass communication.
They are equally crucial for the advertising professionals as well. Advertising, as
we all know is an essential component to achieve a degree of success and earn
profits in any industrial enterprise or commercial undertaking. It is through
advertising that the consumers and producers of innumerable products come to
learn about their importance and learn to coordinate and cooperate to each other’s
benefit. It is also through the highly intricate mechanism of advertising the free
economy and market systems operate.

Therefore, with a view to ensuring that all these regimes function smoothly and
systematically, some rules and regulations are set out for adherence. In addition,
there are some principles and standards of performance and management that
must be followed to earn confidence and retain the trust of one another and stay
in business for a longer period.

In this unit, we will describe various legislative enactments and certain voluntarily
accepted self-regulation tenets relating to advertising that have been accepted by
the business bodies and explain how all these work. We will also discuss some of
the essential principles of ethical standards of business operations that need to be
observed to gain long-term customer loyalties.

Though there are quite a few laws in India that specifically relate to advertising,
there are several legal enactments that regulate all media of mass communication,
including advertising. In the section on ethics of advertising, we will dilate upon
the ethical principles, guidelines, standards and some of the universally accepted
canons and codes of advertising.

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Advertising & Pr Ethics and
Laws 13.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• discuss various laws of advertising that are in force in India;
• examine concept of ethics in the field of advertising; and
• explain working of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for
implementing its ethical code.

13.2 ADVERTISING LAWS IN INDIA

The origin of advertising laws in India is concealed in early annals of Indian
history. The available records show that advertising laws in India are almost as
old as the print media itself. You may recall that the first newspaper to be started
in India, The Calcutta General Advertiser, also called, Hickey’s Bengal Gazette,
appeared in 1780 in Calcutta (now renamed as Kolkata). It carried some classified
notices and notifications meant for the employees of the British East India
Company. The Company was then fully involved in politically administering
India. Though only a few issues of the Hickey’s Gazette were brought out, most
of the contents it carried, related to the Company’s employees, and were worded
in objectionable and defamatory language. These were protested against by the
Company’s management and Hickey was repeatedly warned against publishing
such materials. However, he persisted and as a result, Hickey was deported back
to England, and the paper stopped publication. That is also deemed to be the
point of time in India’s history when the laws pertaining to, and restricting the
freedom of the press, and also advertisements were said to have been conceived.

13.2.1 Early Beginnings

The first newspaper to be published in India, Hickey’s Gazette, was in English
language. However, in due course of time several publications were brought out
in local languages such as Persian, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi. For the first time in
1799, certain rules and regulations were issued in India that were applicable on
newspapers of all categories. However, a systematic ‘licensing’ procedure was
laid down in 1823 for starting the newspapers. According to Licensing Regulations,
1823, the press without license was a penal offence. The restriction was directed
mainly to Indian language newspapers or those edited by the Indians. The Indian
Penal Code that was notified in 1860 contained some provisions pertaining to
the press and thereby also applicable on advertising. The Press and Registration
of Books Act was passed in 1867. Though a number of enactments followed
thereafter, none of these exclusively related to, or applied on advertising industry.
Incidentally, Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s freedom movement, who was
editing two papers – Navjivan in Gujarati and Young India in English considered
advertising as ‘immoral’ in the sense that it could influence the contents of
newspaper. Therefore the two papers did not publish even one line of advertising
in any of his publications. Later Mahatma Gandhi founded Harijan Sevak Sangh
which brought out three weekly newspapers, namely Harijan Bandhu in Gujarati
language, Harijan Sevak in Hindi and Harijan in English. These three papers
were also not carrying any advertisement as such.

The real beginnings of legislating laws began in independent in 1950, when India
adopted its Constitution. One of the first and the most crucial enactments for the
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advertising industry was the provisions contained in the Article 19(1)(a) of Advertising Ethics & Laws
Constitution on fundamental rights, which said, ‘all citizens shall have freedom
of speech and expression.’ Article 19(1) (a) also applies on the contents of the
advertising copy that appeared in the print or broadcast. This clause of the
Constitution has proved to be an eminent benchmark in the beginnings of
advertising law in India. However, the freedom of speech and expression is not
absolute. Under Article 19 (2) of our Constitution, reasonable restrictions could
be imposed by the State on freedom of speech expression in the interests of the
sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations
with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt
of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

13.2.2 Important Laws Relating to Advertising

After India became a sovereign Republic, a plethora of advertising- specific laws
were enacted. Some of the most important advertising laws include:
1) The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950
2) The Drugs and Cosmetic Control Act, 1940
3) Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954
4) The Prize Competition Act, 1955.
5) The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
6) The Copyright Law, 1957
7) Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisements and
Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution)
Act, 2003.
8) The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
9) The Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
10) Trade Marks Act, 1999
11) The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978
We will briefly discuss some of the important provisions of these laws that regulate,
control or prohibit advertisements of objectionable nature. The details given below
will serve your purpose as media person to have an overview of these laws.

Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950:

The law lays down that no person will use name or national emblem, or their
colourful imitation, or register any firm, or any other institution containing some
emblems or names for any commercial purpose. Some of these emblems or names
include: the United Nations- UN; World Health Organisation –WHO; UNESCO;
India’s national flag; any insignia of India’s central or state governments;
Rashtrapati Bhawan; Mahatama Gandhi, Shivaji, or the Prime Minister of India;
medals or badges, such as Ashok Chakra, etc.

Drugs and Cosmetic Control Act, 1940:

Though enacted before independence, the law still stands on India’s statute book
in a somewhat amended form. The primary objective of the Act is to ensure that
the drugs and cosmetics sold in India are safe, effective and conform to state
quality standards. This law regulates import, manufacture, distribution and sale
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Advertising & Pr Ethics and of drugs and cosmetics at the national level. It regulates the approval of new
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drugs and clinical trials in the country. This law prescribes the standards for drugs
and medical devices, control over the quality of imported drugs, testing of drugs,
and all other related activities with the drugs in the country. The law affects the
advertisements of drugs and cosmetic items.

Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement Act, 1954:

This Act controls advertising of drugs in India. It prohibits advertisements of
drugs and remedies that claim to have magical properties, and makes doing so a
cognizable offence. The law prohibits advertising of drugs and remedies for:
inducing miscarriage or preventing conception in women; improving or
maintaining the capacity for sexual pleasure; correction of menstrual disorders,
etc. The words “no person shall take any part in the publication” are wide enough
to include a printer or publisher of the newspaper or journal where such
advertisement is printed or published.

Prize Competition Act, 1955

It is an offence under this law to issue or publish any advertisements or notices,
offering money in which prizes are offered for solution of any puzzle based on
the building up, arrangement, combination or permutation, of letters, words or
figures.

Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1955 and the Food Safety and Standards
Act, 2006
These Acts relate to advertisements of food products put out for sale and which
are adulterated with ingredients bad or harmful to human health. The provisions
of these laws also prescribe standards to be observed for ensuring science-based
standards for articles of food.

The Copyright Law, 1957

This law was enacted to ensure that all the creators of original works of art,
painting, architecture, music, literature and dramatic are exclusively able to enjoy
the fruit of their labour in creating these works. The law lays down terms and
conditions for holding copyright, transfer of ownership of copyright, duration of
copyright, punishment for the infringement of the copyright.

Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Advertisement law of 2003

This law prohibits publication of advertisements for production, supply and trading
of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Terms and conditions of seizure,
destruction of such goods and punishment are laid down in the law. The law also
implements measures for the protection of non-smokers from involuntary exposure
to tobacco smoke.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

The law prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or
in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto. It prohibits indecent representation,
i.e., depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form, body, or any part
thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or
denigrating women, or which is likely to deprave, corrupt, or injure the public
8 morality or morals of women in any way.
Consumer Protection Act, 1986 Advertising Ethics & Laws

This law is termed as ‘benevolent social legislation’ and lays down the rights of
consumer. It provides for promotion and protection of rights of consumer. The
law details the meanings of goods, services and unfair trade practices punishable
under the law.

Trade Marks Act, 1999

Laws such as the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Patents Act, 1970, and similar
enactments protect the rights of owners of intellectual property. No advertisement
that violates intellectual rights of any owner can be published. As per law “trade
mark means a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable
of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and
may include shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colours.” The
law prescribes punishment for its infringement.

The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978
Section 3 of the Act imposes a ban on chit fund scheme. It specifically holds that
no person shall encourage or organise or enroll as a member, participate in any of
such schemes which are banned under the Act. Any person who breaches the
provisions of section 3 of the Act shall be punished under the provisions of section
4. The punishment may be imprisonment extending to three years or with fine or
with both.

Other laws
In addition to the above enactments, there are some sections or clauses of several
other laws that apply on advertising industry and business in India. Some of
these pertain to advertisements which:
• ridicule castes, race, colour, creed, nationality;
• advertisements against the Constitution of India;
• incite people or prompt masses to commit crimes, provocative - speeches,
creating law and order situations;
• provoke to commit violence, and breach laws;
• glorify obscenity, pornography;
• indulge in terrorist activities;
• spread communal hatred, and communal feelings;
• ridicule national leaders;
• ridicule national emblems, and national symbols;
• depict women in hateful manner;
• depict obscenity and vulgarity;
• depict indecency and infringe good taste.
The Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994
The Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 provide for an Advertising Code.
The Code is applicable only on television channels. According to Section 7 of
the Code:
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Advertising & Pr Ethics and 1) Advertising carried in the cable service shall be so designed as to conform
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to the laws of the country and should not offend morality, decency and
religious susceptibilities of the subscribers.
2) No advertisement shall be permitted which:
i) Derides any race, caste, colour, creed and nationality,
ii) Is against any provisions of the Constitution of India;
iii) Tends to incite people to crime, cause disorder or violence or breach
of law or glorifies violence or obscenity in any way;
iv) Presents criminality as desirable;
v) Exploits the national emblem, or any part of the Constitution or the
person or personality of a national leader or a State dignitary;
vi) In its depiction of women violates the constitutional guarantees to all
citizens. In particular, no advertisement shall be permitted image of
women. Women must not be portrayed in a manner that emphasises
passive, submissive qualities and encourages them to play a
subordinate, secondary role in the family and society. The cable operator
shall ensure that the portrayal of the female form, in the programmes
carried in his cable service is tasteful and aesthetic, and is within the
well-established norms of good taste and decency;
vii) Exploits social evils like dowry, child marriage.”
In the Rules it is further stated: “No advertisement shall contain references which
are likely to lead the public to infer that the product advertised or any of its
ingredients has some special or miraculous or supernatural property or quality
which is difficult of being proved.”
Check Your Progress: 1
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
1) On which grounds reasonable restrictions could be imposed by the State on
freedom of speech and expression?
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2) What is Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Advertisement law of 2003?

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 Advertising Ethics & Laws
13.3 ETHICS OF ADVERTISING
After discussing various laws related to advertising, we shall now discuss and
explain what is ethics of advertising and why ethics is crucial for truthfulness of
advertising and serve the advertisers, producers and consumers. Ethics is a branch
of academic discipline of philosophy, which means some general principles, values
and norms to determine what is good or bad, correct or incorrect, right or wrong,
as far as human actions are concerned. Ethics teaches us power to differentiate
between good and evil, true and false, wicked and noble, etc.

According to two noted American Professors Edward Spence and Brett Van
Heekeren, ethics is a set of prescriptive rules, principles, values and virtues of
character that inform and guide interpersonal and intrapersonal conduct of people
toward themselves. This means that when rules, principles, values, virtues are
blended in an advertising copy, these can go a long way to make a consumer
purchase a product, services or goods, though that person may not necessarily be
needing these instantly. But that person purchased these products because of the
persuasion, and or influence by so many advertisements of those products, goods
or services in the print and electronic media.

Thus, a smart, alluring but deceptively worded advertisement copy has enormous
potential of ‘manipulating’ the mind and entice of a consumer to buy those goods,
services, and products. Similarly, an expensive product ‘endorsed’ or ‘certified’
to be immensely useful for daily use and of genuine quality by a well known
personality, a star, or a celebrity, can induce a person of paltry means to invest a
major portion of his salary may amount to misguiding or misleading that person.

Activity – 1
At this point, you may stop reading and go through the advertisements in a
newspaper of choice or a television channel for a few days. Identify the ads
which try to mislead the consumer into buying a substandard product or use
surrogate advertising. Write down your observations.

If you examine some of the advertisements in newspaper and magazines, you

will find they are of popular consumer goods, kitchen gadgets, daily wear, and
cosmetic products. The advertising copy of such products will contain words of
persuasive nature. They use heart-touching language, brimming with consumerist
appeal. At times they unabashedly employ humorous or even offensive sex appeals
targeting people or spread fears or use religious appeals. Such advertisements
exploit human emotions, passions, sympathy. Therefore, some of the prominent
issues related to advertising ethics include: use of informative content of
advertising for sentimental-persuasive purposes; creating fear; intimate sexual
appeals; exploiting children; inciting minorities; surrogate advertising for
cigarettes, tobacco, alcoholic beverages among others.

The business of advertising is largely global in nature. The business also takes
some local, regional, or national factors or characteristics into consideration.
Therefore, the broad principles of ethics of advertising in India cannot be very
much different those that are being understood or followed in other parts of the
world, particularly in democratic countries. India’s standards of ethics, therefore,
need to be very much compatible with all sorts of economic systems, commercial
practices or business regulations prevalent internationally.
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Advertising & Pr Ethics and For that it is imperative that Indian advertisers and Indian advertising agencies
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avoid objectionable language in ad copy, offensive illustrations accompanying
the ad text ensure that the religious beliefs of the people and cultural ethos are
not hurt. The advertising laws in India are quite unambiguous and precautions
stated therein must be followed.
Check Your Progress: 2
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
a) Define Ethics.
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b) What are the major ethical issues in advertising?

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c) Why is it important for those engaged in advertisers to follow ethical

practices?
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13.4 ADVERTISING CODES

The advertising industry, as you may be aware, consists of three distinct
components: media, advertisers, and the advertising agencies. While all three
are quite separate and independent entities, it is only through their close and joint
collaboration that any advertising campaign can be successfully launched.
Therefore, with a view running an unhindered campaign, all the three have worked
out certain self-regulatory measures known as ‘codes of ethical conduct’ as they
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are aware that if anyone resorts to malpractices, the statutory consumer protection Advertising Ethics & Laws
bodies and government authorities will act to restrain the defaulters. In order to
avoid any outside legal restraints; codes of conduct have been devised voluntarily
by all the three parties involved in the advertising industry.

Thus, there is a code for the mass media organisations; one for the advertising
industry, and yet another for the advertisers and all of them are expected to adhere
to these codes voluntarily. The basic objective of these codes is: to ensure
truthfulness and honesty of advertising claims; that advertisement copy is not
offensive and repugnant to human decency. The advertisement copy safeguards
society against sale and promotion of hazardous goods. It also ensures fair
competitive business practices; and also safeguard and protect the interests of
consumers at large.

13.4.1 Bodies Governing Advertising Ethics in India

Some voluntary, professional and business organisations such as the Advertising
Standards Council of India (ASCI) have made quite desirable impact on ensuring
healthy advertising practices.

13.4.2 Advertising Standards Council of India

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a voluntary organisation
with an objective to self-regulate the advertising business and industry in India.
It has headquarter in Mumbai. The ASCI was established in 1995 to support and
assist in self-regulation of the advertising business and industry. Some of the
most important objectives of the ASCI are to enhance public confidence in
advertisements; to regulate the advertising business and industry so that the
reputation and the status of the ASCI is not devalued or endangered; and to
maintain consumer trust in advertising industry and business.

The ASCI comprises 12 non-advertising professionals representing civil society,

recognised Indian opinion leaders in divergent special areas, such as medicine,
law, industrial design, engineering, chemical technology, human resources and
consumer interest groups. In addition, there are nine other advertising practitioners
from among member-firms of the ASCI. The ASCI is mandated by its format to
decide the complaints within four to six weeks after giving the concerned party
adequate chance to present its side of the story. If the complaint is upheld, the
advertiser and its agency are given two weeks to comply with the ASCI’s decisions.
Non-compliant advertisements are published in ASCI’s media quarterly release
on an all-India basis.

The ASCI has devised and adopted a self-regulatory code that has to be voluntarily
followed by all those involved in commissioning, creating, placing or publishing
advertisements. Though a non-statutory body, the advertising code prepared by
ASCI has been recognised and accepted by several professional, business, and
industry organisations in India. Moreover, the ASCI code is ‘not in competition
with various advertising statutes now in force in the country. The ASCI code is
designed to complement legal controls under such laws and not to usurp or replace
them.

The ASCI- prepared extended code for advertising business and industry in India
has met general approval by several media organisations such as the Press Council
of India, All India Radio, Doordarshan, etc. The ASCI’s code is an extended
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Advertising & Pr Ethics and document covering almost every aspect of ethics for advertisers, advertising
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agencies and media. This code is in force in India. ‘This code overrides all ethical
standards in advertising laid down by individual organisations as incumbent upon
their own members and appealing to own particular trade or industry.’

The ASCI has meticulously prescribed ethics code for advertising specific
products, such as medicines and treatments, for guidance and compliance by
advertisers, manufacturers, distributors and all mass media establishments
publishing and disseminating their advertisements..

On 24 January 2019, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government

of India, issued an advisory that in order to create mass consumer awareness
about the self-regulatory mechanism of ASCI and for immediate and effective
steps towards this goal, all TV channels are hereby advised to run a scroll as
follows: “Objectionable ads? Complain to The Advertising Standards Council of
India (ASCI)…”

In addition to ASCI, there are some other self-regulatory professional advertising

bodies as listed below:
• Association of Advertising Agencies of India
• Indian Newspaper Society
• International Association of Advertising Agencies
Though not very active, these professional advertising bodies also issue directives
and have contributed in advertising business and industry in India.

13.4.3 Difference between Laws and Codes

If you carefully study the legislative enactments on advertising and the codes laid
down by the voluntary self-regulatory advertising bodies, you will find a lot of
difference between the two. While all the advertising laws have element of force
and compulsion for compliance, codes are optional. Yet another difference is that
non-compliance of laws is punishable with prison sentence and fine and or both,
this is not the case with the codes. The advertising laws are justiciable, whereas
codes can be ignored with impunity. The legal disputes are decided by judicial
courts, where as issues arising out infringing codes are decided by officials of
voluntary professional bodies, and may not be punishable as in case of the courts.
A simple regret or withdrawal of sanction of the member or membership generally
serves the purpose.

The above difference of laws and codes is not applicable to the Advertising Code
given in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, because it is of statutory
character.

13.4.4 Future Needs and Challenges

Undoubtedly, the future of advertising business and industry in India is extremely
bright, but the emergence of new media has created new challenges in several
fields including advertising business. For example, how our laws could be quickly
and effectively implemented on the foreign advertising available on the internet.
As India’s economy booms, and the nation races to catch up with the developed
world, its fervour for all-round development will be touching new heights. Besides,
as India heads towards becoming a center of high-level industrial growth and
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technological revolution, the entire developed world looks at the country’s one Advertising Ethics & Laws
billion plus population, its vast market offers a plethora of unparalleled business
opportunities. In such a scenario, advertising is bound to become a multi-billion
dollar commercial proposition in the very near future. Moreover, even the existing
businesses are exploring the vast expanding opportunities to grow by leaps and
bounds. In fact, already, many multi-national corporations have opened their
branches in India’s rapidly expanding urban and rural markets. The need of the
hour, therefore, is to be ready to grab any advantageous moment, and keep our
advertising laws and ethics updated with the fast changing communic

ation technology.
Check Your Progress: 3
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
a) Describe the role of ASCI in upholding advertising ethics in India.
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b) Write three major differences between laws and codes.

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c) What in your opinion is the future of advertising in India?

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13.5 LET US SUM UP

In this unit we discussed the origin and growth of advertising in India right from
the stage the first newspaper started publishing. We traced the origin of the laws
related to advertising during the British regime in India and also discussed some
important laws related to advertising since India became independent.
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Advertising & Pr Ethics and Further we discussed the present state of ethics of advertising in India and
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explained how advertising business and industry is regulated and controlled. The
working of ASCI, the most prominent self-regulatory body of advertising in India,
was explained and the difference between advertising code and law of advertising
was also made.

Finally it was observed that the emergence of new media has created new
challenges in advertising business and the need of the hour is to update our
advertising laws and ethics to keep pace with the changing media scenario.

13.6 FURTHER READINGS

Mohan, Mahendra (second edition 2008), Advertising Management: Concepts
and Cases, Tata McGraw Hills Publishing Co., New Delhi

Kohli, Vanita (2010), The Indian Media Business, Response Books, New Delhi

Jean J. Boddewyn (1992), Global Perspectives of Advertising Self-Regulation,

Quorum Books: Connecticut, USA

Edward Spence and Brett van Heekeren (2005), Advertising Ethics; Pearson-
Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, USA

Jethwaney, Jaishri (2012), Advertising Management; Oxford University Press,

New Delhi

13.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress: 1
a) Under Article 19 (2) of our Constitution, reasonable restrictions could be
imposed by the State on freedom of speech expression in the interests of
the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly
relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation
to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
b) This law prohibits publication of advertisements for production, supply and
trading of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Terms and conditions of
seizure, destruction of such goods and punishment are laid down in the law.
The law also implements measures for the protection of non-smokers from
involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke.
Check Your Progress: 2
a) Ethics is a branch of academic discipline of philosophy, which means some
general principles, values and norms. Ethics teaches us power to determine
what is good or bad, correct or incorrect, right or wrong, as far as human
actions are concerned. Ethics implies what is right or fair to one-self as well
as to others.

b) Some major ethical issues in advertising relate to misrepresentation of facts,

hiding the affects of a harmful product; creating fear; intimate sexual appeals;
exploiting children; surrogate advertising for cigarettes, tobacco, alcoholic
beverages among others.
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c) India is a country with diverse population belonging to different castes, Advertising Ethics & Laws
creeds and religions who may be sensitive to their community specific
practices. In addition, derogatory representation of women and children in
advertising also has serious ethical concerns. Hence, it is important to follow
ethical practices in advertising in India as well as in other parts of the world.
Engaging advertisers to follow ethical practices is always helpful in
implementing them in practice.
Check Your Progress: 3
1) The ASCI has devised a self-regulatory code that has been recognised and
accepted by business, and industry organisations in India. The advertising
code prepared by ASCI is voluntarily in nature has to be followed by all
those involved in commissioning, creating, placing or publishing
advertisements.
2) The major differences between laws and codes of ethics are:
• Laws have to be complied with, while codes of ethics are voluntary in
nature.
• The legal disputes are decided by judicial courts, where as issues arising
out infringing codes can be addressed by officials of voluntary
professional bodies.
• Non- compliance of laws is punishable, which is not in the case with
codes.
3) The future of advertising in India is bright as the country is making significant
progress in different walks of life and poised for further growth. The
economic growth spurs manufacturing, services and other sectors which
are all conducive for advertising.

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