1.
Kulveen Trehan
– Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India.
2.
Gaurav Kr. Singh
– Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India.
Abstract
Whether ethical advertising is an oxymoron remains a subject of debate as it continues to evolve in the Indian mediascape.
The academia has expressed strong reservations on fundamental motives of advertising while the industry vehemently defends the role and
legitimacy of advertising in the integrated brand promotion mix. Amidst it all, it becomes even more significant to decode advertisements visa-
vis acceptable norms of conduct. Therefore this paper attempts to analyze the content of messages in print and television ads that have been
registered as violating the code of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). The results show that all deceptive practices exist across
product categories. Ethical violations are on the rise because of the powerless nature of ASCI.
Keywords Deception, Consumption, Misleading, Ethics, Violations, Self Regulation, Ad Literacy
