Experts call on government to punish dishonest advertisers without restricting freedom of speech

Note to viewers: Amended version of MIB announcement issued on 3 July only for the food and health sector, subject to annual declaration obligations.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), on June 3, in compliance with a Supreme Court directive, announced a new order requiring advertisers and advertising agencies to file a Self-Declaration Certificate (SDC) before any advertisement is published or broadcast. The initiative aims to curb misleading advertisements and protect consumers, but achieving this goal remains a major challenge.

To delve deeper into the impact of these measures on the advertising industry, Storyboard18 editor Delshad Irani spoke with Gowree Gokhale, partner at Nishith Desai Associates, Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and investor, Kazim Rizvi, founding director of The Dialogue, and Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, global CEO and co-founder of Gozoop Group.

According to Mathias, measures are needed to punish dishonest advertisers without violating freedom of speech. He suggested methods such as temporary advertising bans on repeat offenders to ensure accountability and fairness in advertising practices.

“The government has sort of passed the burden or the responsibility onto advertisers, who in turn passed it onto agencies. And on the second level, they’ve sort of passed the burden onto broadcasters and media owners, saying you’re the second level of defense. But the real problem is the dishonest advertisers who have made misleading claims and who have actually misled people, which is probably what this whole exercise has been about. And that’s why I think the burden has to shift on how to monitor dishonest advertisers without creating a censorship issue,” Mathias said.

“I think it’s about how to strengthen integrity and how to punish dishonest advertisers? If someone is a criminal, I think there has to be a method where they are punished. If you have intentionally made a false statement, despite the certification that is in place, are you going to be banned from the media, as if no advertiser registered in this country can use your communication for six months? That will make advertisers much more aware of their responsibility to society. And as I said, there will always be dishonest elements, just like in any society. But I think the problem that needs to be solved is at that end. What we have really done is just compounded the whole problem. On one level, we are talking about ease of doing business, I think it has just opened up a Pandora’s box unnecessarily,” he added.

He also proposes a naming and shaming system as a potential solution to enforcing integrity in the industry.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi pointed to the self-regulatory frameworks of major digital advertising platforms such as Google and Meta. These platforms enforce strict guidelines and punish advertisers who violate them by blacklisting their accounts, which acts as a strong deterrent.

Naqvi suggested that introducing similar punitive measures, such as blacklisting advertisers, could be effective in deterring deceptive practices in traditional media.