The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) unanimously elected Prof Dhananjay Keskar, Director, IBS (a leading B-School) as Chairman of the Board of ASCI. Keskar will take over after Madhukar Kamath, who recently stepped down.
Rajiv Dube, President – Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd, and Vikram Sakhuja, Chief Operating Officer – South Asia, GroupM, have been appointed as Vice-Chairman and Honorary Treasurer, respectively.
In the words of Madhukar Kamath, MD & CEO, Mudra Group, and the outgoing Chairman of ASCI, “ASCI’s current focus is to increase awareness about its role and its Code amongst two key audiences – the general public and advertisers and marketers. The Council has taken many large strides in this direction during the recent past. During the last financial year, ASCI has added 47 new members, taking its tally of members to over 300 for the very first time. ASCI will also soon be releasing a mass-media campaign to make the general public aware about its role in society. I’m certain that Dhananjay Keskar will continue this momentum and help ASCI attain its goals.”
“ASCI will soon enter its landmark Silver Jubilee year and we have planned several programmes to commemorate this momentous occasion. The coming year will see us renew and strengthen our commitment to self-regulation and marketing responsibly by focusing on the marketing fraternity and the general public – the youth in particular. We intend to engage the youth through interactive platforms and by involving the entire student community,” said Keskar when he spoke about his appointment.
In 2008-09, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 12 times. They deliberated on 137 complaints which were against various ad’s. 66 complaints were ‘upheld’, whereas 68 of them were ‘not upheld’ and three were considered ‘non-issues’. In another 62 cases, the ads have been withdrawn or modified as per the CCC’s decisions. This has resulted in a 94 per cent compliance rate, which is the highest ever achieved by the Council.