The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has sent a notice to Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest telecom services provider, asking the firm to withdraw its 4G speed challenge advertisement on surroundings that it is misleading.
The advertisement was released in August after Airtel announced nationally 4G services rollout. Called Airtel Challenge, it says if your network is faster, we will pay your mobile bills for lifetime.”
The claim in the ad, ‘Airtel 4G is the fastest network ever’ and ‘If your network is faster, we will pay your mobile bills for life’, is misleading by omission in the absence of appropriate disclaimers in the print, TV, hoarding advertisements. The advertisement contravened Chapter 1.4 of the code,” said the notice, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint.
Generally the advertisement contravened Chapter 1.4 of the code. We have instructed the Advertiser to take away or to change properly the said advertisement before 7 October 2015 or seek a review of the decision. If you continue to see the advertisement after the due date, kindly carry the same to our notice.”4G technology is proven to deliver the fastest Internet experience, and the same has been accepted globally, the company said in a statement to IANS.
As the only commercial providers of this world-class technology in India, our advertising campaign revolves around the 4G promise of fastest Internet speeds and features a set of claims that are based on rigorous test conditions, the statement added.
ASCI had said that,there is no data to support that the subjects being referred to in the advertisement are being made available for formal education.
