Celebs, Influencers will face Rs 50 Lakh fine for surrogate alcohol and tobacco ads

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is developing new rules to restrict celebrities and influencers from promoting alcohol and tobacco products through surrogate advertising. According to media reports, the guidelines will include fines of up to ₹50 lakh for violating the restrictions on surrogate ads.

Under these new rules, which are being drafted by the central consumer protection agency, celebrities and influencers found engaging in surrogate ads will incur a ₹10 lakh penalty for a first violation and a ₹50 lakh fine for each additional violation.

Draft guidelines indicate that celebrities and social media influencers must avoid promoting restricted products, such as alcohol or tobacco. Celebrities endorsing items like soda, bottled water, CDs, USB drives, or apparel are required to ensure that these products don’t have messaging, branding, or packaging that closely resembles any alcohol or other restricted brands.

India has a total ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising. However, liquor brands often circumvent this restriction by advertising sodas or other products. The new rules aim to prevent brands from subtly promoting restricted items by linking them to permissible products.

Recently, the CCPA issued notices to Bacardi, Pernod Ricard, United Breweries, Radico Khaitan, and William Grant & Sons for allegedly promoting alcohol indirectly by advertising non-alcoholic products with similar branding.