95% of ASCI ad violation allegations are influencer posts, not advertising claims: Varun Alagh

To the 187 advertisement violations highlighted by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) earlier this month, Mamaearth-parent, Honasa Consumer, today responded, saying “95% of the ads are not the communication that the company has done, but are the influencers' posts.”

While speaking with CNBCTV18, its Chairman, Varun Alagh, said, “These are influencers' posts on which an influencer forgets to put the collaboration or sponsored tag, which gets raised and then we reach out to them. It is more of the activation done by the influencers.”

“We do around 5,000-6,000 of such collaborations with influencers in a month. So while 187 number look large, it is not comparable to the communication made by the company,” he added.

It is to be noted that any influencer activity that is commissioned, approved or authorised by a brand is considered to be advertising coming from the brand itself.

Also, all such violations are brought to the attention of the influencers as well as the brand by ASCI, and they are given the opportunity to correct them.

To avoid such ad violation mishaps, experts have emphasised brands to have a robust process to monitor influencers.

Manisha Kapoor, CEO and Secretary-General, ASCI, earlier told Storyboard18 that brands need to ensure that their contracts (with influencers) require disclosure labels to be mentioned, and blacklisting influencers who do not adhere to these instructions.

For its part, the self-regulatory body has launched a short e-learning course for influencers, which can train them on disclosure requirements.

In its latest Annual Complaints Report (2023), ASCI last week noted that Honasa Consumer, founded by Ghazal and Varun Alagh, is the biggest violator with 187 such ads processed with its brand DermaCo range of products leading with 14 such ads, Mamaearth range of products with 10, followed by Aqualogica with 6, among other ranges of brands and products.