Parle Products Pvt Ltd - Parle

Recommendation: Not Upheld | Medium: General Public

The ASCI had approached the advertiser for its response in addressing the grievances of the complainant and forwarded the details of the complaint, verbatim to the advertiser with a request to respond to the same. The advertiser was offered an option to seek an Informal Resolution (IR) of the complaint by modifying or withdrawing the claims objected to in the advertisement, or alternately to substantiate the claims with supporting data. The advertiser was also offered an opportunity for a telecon with the ASCI Secretariat, which they did not avail and submitted their written response. The advertiser in their response stated that, “Advertisement evidently divided into two parts for the promotion of our new products Parle-G Chakki Atta and launch of Parle-G biscuit variants. The red background is used for the Atta advertisement and blue background is used for Parle-G biscuits variants. 100% Atta, 0% Maida, 6 Hours Softness it is more important to note here that the last line of the logo ‘6 HOURS SOFTNESS’ is not at all applicable to the biscuits and since this line is an integral part of the said logo this logo cannot be considered to cover the Parle-G Biscuit variants.To invite the attention of the consumers to the recently launch variants of Parle-G biscuits. Therefore, it is clearly mentioned below these newly launch biscuits that, also try our other variants of Parle-G biscuits. All the products given under this advertisement are individually having list of ingredients for the awareness and information of the customers.” The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) viewed the print advertisement considered the complaint, and the advertiser’s response. The CCC observed that the print advertisement was divided into two parts to promote the new product Parle-G Chakki Atta and the launch of Parle-G biscuit variants. The CCC also observed that the advertisements were distinguished from one another by using different colours for their backgrounds, i.e. blue for the Atta advertisement and red for the Parle- G biscuit variants, with a clear demarcation between the two parts using a thick dark yellow line. The CCC also discussed that the claim ‘100% Atta 0% Maida’ along with the claim '6 Hours Softness' does not apply to the biscuits because the yellow line was a clear demarcation and would not mislead parents to consider that the claim also applies to the Parle-G Biscuit variants. Furthermore, the CCC noted that the biscuits and atta are distinct products. All of the products displayed in this advertisement are presented individually, with a list of ingredients on the back of the pack for customer awareness and information. Based on these observations, the CCC concluded that the said claim ‘100% Atta 0% Maida’ in the advertisement, is not misleading, and not in contravention of Chapter I of the ASCI Code. This complaint was NOT UPHELD.