MS Dhoni Tops List Of Celebrities Violating Advertising Rules, Virat Kohli Also On List: ASCI

CSK captain MS Dhoni was involved in as many as ten cases of non-compliance.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Wednesday stated that the there has been an exponential increase in the number of complaints against celebrities. The Advertising industry's self-regulatory body noted that most of the endorsers have failed to produce evidence that they had done their research before putting pen on paper for an advertising campaign to ensure that all norms are being followed.

The body said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni tops the list of celebrities who are found to have been in violation of advertising rules. The ex-India skipper was involved in as many as ten cases of non-compliance. He was followed by actor-comedian Youtuber Bhuvan Bam who seven complaints of non-compliance.

As per ASCI, there was a scarcely believable 803 per cent jump in complaints against celebrities in Fiscal Year 2023. While in the year-ago period there were only 55 advertisements which were complained, this time around the number is 503. The real-money gaming industry has emerged as the most violative sector, overtaking the education sector.

“In spite of the Consumer Protection Act now legally requiring celebrities to do their due diligence when they appear in ads, in 97 per cent of cases processed by ASCI featuring celebrities, they failed to provide any evidence of due diligence," the report by ASCI stated as quoted in a PTI report.

Star India and Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer Virat Kohli, Shraddha Kapoor (actress), Kriti Sanon (actress) and Sara Ali Khan (actress) are some of the other names that feature in the list of celebrities that are frequent violators of rules. 

Other than real gaming and education, healthcare and personal care were the other top violative categories. The four combined accounts for over half of the problematic content, the ASCI report has said.

Around 92% of gaming advertisements, for instance, failed to include the necessary disclaimer that alerts consumers of that advertisement to the risks of addiction and financial loss. MPL, WinZo, My11Circle, and PokerBaazi are some of the law breachers on this list.