Norms to curb surrogate ads & pesky calls next month

NEW DELHI: Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued notices to 13 companies, including major alcohol, tobacco and paan masala makers, for resorting to surrogate advertising.

Surrogate advertising is a deceptive practice of promoting products banned from direct advertising by promoting other products under the same brand name.

Union consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said Tuesday CCPA is drafting guidelines to regulate the problem. "The companies have given their response & have claimed that there was no surrogate advertising. We are looking into the responses before initiating action," said a source. Norms to deal with the menace will be notified next month. Consumer affairs department will also release norms in Jan to tackle unsolicited commercial communications or pesky calls.

Meanwhile, 13 major e-commerce platforms, including Reliance Retail, Tata Sons and Zomato signed pledges for detecting and preventing sale of unsafe, spurious and non-conforming products.