Cant Airtel be Sued Over its Ads ??

Spacescreamer

Spacescreamer

ex-Mod
I been watching for long how Airtel goes abt advertising its Airtel TV, by showing a 100% blurred screen and then introduces a 'window of clarity' claiming its due to mpeg-4 this mpeg that.

Now, we all know how Computer and Electronically literate our unsuspecting Indians are, and going about with such an advertisement, that too abt a relatively new technology.. doesnt seems to be too bright a start.

We all know pic quality is not that bad without the mp4 technology, so cant these self believing wisecracks be sued over these ads..?
 
Re: Cant the Airtel be Sued Over its Ads ??

the fact that i can see that window of clarity clearly on my tata sky connection defeats the purpose of that lame ad!

mp4 just offers better compression more than anything.
 
Re: Cant the Airtel be Sued Over its Ads ??

Airtel keeps deploying the caller tunes and the spl packs even when a user never subscribes for it and doesnt refunds the money when notified abt the same.

It doesnt goes after the fraudulent internet users who flee without paying the bills and returning the modems.

i guess the strategy to go abt forceful subscription is to cover these losses.

It ll be interesting to know if one person from each state successfully sues Airtel for different misdeeds, what ll be the bearing on Airtel.
 
i've been having a really difficult time with them. they charged me 600rs for PC secure even when i haven't opted for it. the best part it, i got charged for it on both my airtel connections and they claim that i activated it on the same day within a span of 2 min (as per the bills). i dont even use that junk and its not like its my first bill for these connections. i dont even know how to explain it to them. their system are clearly flawed if their billing can pick up an activation which hasn't taken place. to make things more interesting, the modem is usually off at that time of the night!
 
misleading ads can be complained about to Advertising Standards Council of India.

Download the pdf file from here ASCI | How to Complain and fill in details and email it to their id.

Edit: I was just looking at the code of self regulation on their site which all advertising agencies and advertisers have to follow. Came across some interesting points in very beginning:

4. Advertisements shall neither distort facts nor mislead the consumer by means of implications

or omissions. Advertisements shall not contain statements or visual presentation which directly or

by implication or by omission or by ambiguity or by exaggeration are likely to mislead the

consumer about the product advertised or the advertiser or about any other product or advertiser.
5. Advertisements shall not be so framed as to abuse the trust of consumers or exploit their lack of

experience or knowledge. No advertisement shall be permitted to contain any claim so

exaggerated as to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers.
Click to expand...

if we take these two points into consideration, many of the fmcg companies will have to withdraw their ads
 
I already had complained abt one such ad..

JK Cement. ppl wd be able to recall w/o much difficulty. (Where a lady seems to be vouching for its quality)

Nothing came out of it.
 
couple of weeks ago i got some push message from airtel and was charged rs1 for that message

anyone have such experiences?

it is getting really annoying with these people these days

even if we sue these people there cant be much done against these rich corporations

only properly educated public can question stop these kind of things what we re clearly lacking in our country...
 
ad industry is full of these kind of ads

#use this cream and you will get fairer in 7 days.

#health drinks child grows 200%

#eating mouth freshener directly related to one IQ and Indian culture.

and what not.

Once the health Minister tried to start a campaign against these exaggerations but all went to thrash.
 
Another thing about ads on TV. The ads in the middle of the game don't let you see a lot of things.

In today's match, Bosman was out to a no-ball of Sreesanth. However during the replay, some ad about a deodorant popped up and no-one was able to waych where his feet landed.

Can't anything be done about this?
 
^^

last time an article on the issue of Neo showing only 5 ball over in Test match made the channel fall in line.

Maybe another report mite help.

Back to the main issue.. can the Airtel be somehow maligned.. i would like to see that happening.
 
shantanil said:
Another thing about ads on TV. The ads in the middle of the game don't let you see a lot of things.
In today's match, Bosman was out to a no-ball of Sreesanth. However during the replay, some ad about a deodorant popped up and no-one was able to waych where his feet landed.
Can't anything be done about this?
Click to expand...

Neo sports has been doing that for a long time! They show ads when the play break has not even started sometimes. Even when there are important moments that a cricket lover would want to watch, like the few minutes after India winning a match, or Sachin finishing his 200, they like to get more revenue by squeezing in tons of ads.
 
This is everywhere. How else would you make sense of Sony Bravia ads on your normal TV?

Take all ads with a pinch of salt. Otherwise there is black and white in anything that we do.
 
harayumi said:
couple of weeks ago i got some push message from airtel and was charged rs1 for that message
anyone have such experiences?
it is getting really annoying with these people these days
Click to expand...

Weird. How can they send a text advertisement and charge you too. Are you sure about this.

Advertisements are misleading these days. People get fooled by the jargon and 'data' being shown. 'HD Ready' is a classic example. 3G mobile also. People hardly know the real context for this, and are ready to pay. And the way people are fooled by advertisements for computer hard ware. No need to say more..!

I hardly watch television now. Primarily because of the heavy rotation of advertisements. It is extremely irritating and a real test of patience. I just leave the TV on in the background but hardly sit and watch it. The hindi channels are the worst of the lot. Specially when showing movies. Sports channels....heck...! Same goes with Radio. Too many advertisements.
 
I and a few people I know too (including mom, dad, aunt) have been affected too. Airtel keep on enabling services like horoscope, hello tunes etc on my prepaid WITHOUT any request or permission from me and I have to keep contacting their customer service to get it disabled whenever I see unusual deductions or SMS alerts.

Now I regularly send the "STOP" SMS to 121 to see if any services have been enabled.

I had (when it happened the second time) sent a clear email to their CC (and copied nodal/appelate etc) informing them that I would consider my options to take the maximum action against such fraudulent practices.

I am keeping a watch on my phone and for a few other people and will continue to send email warnings followed by stricter action if this keeps going on...
 
@vishalrao

these sort of actions are clearly illegal i just doubt how much effective our effort will be against these people

see the level of corruption in this country i don't think we have any option left than to quietly watch.
 
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