Satiya Nutraceuticals Private Limited - Plix

Recommendation: Upheld | Medium: General Public

The ASCI had approached the owner of the brand - advertiser (Satiya Nutraceuticals Private Limited) and the influencer (Koyal Bhattacharjee) for their respective responses in addressing the grievances of the complainant and forwarded the details of the complaint, verbatim, to the advertiser and the influencer with a request to respond to the same. The advertiser and the influencer were also offered an opportunity for a telecon with the ASCI Secretariat, which they did not avail and the advertiser submitted their response. The advertiser replied that the Instagram post has been modified. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) viewed the Instagram advertisement (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIBrv5UTzJn/?igsh=MTdrdHp1b2RtdXIyZA%3D%3D), considered the complaint and the advertiser’s reply. The CCC noted that there was no response from the influencer. The CCC observed that the advertisement shows an influencer promoting the advertiser’s product- ‘Plix Hibiscus Frizz Control Hair Serum’. The advertisement does not carry any appropriate disclosure labels such as “Advertisement”, "Ad", "Sponsored", "Collaboration", “Partnership”, "Employee", "Free Gift", “Affiliate”, “Includes paid promotion”. The influencer / owner of the brand - advertiser have not disclosed details regarding any material connection, monetary or non-monetary between themselves nor does it indicate whether or not the influencer was paid to post the details of the advertiser’s product. Based on these observations, the CCC concluded that the Instagram advertisement is misleading by omission and exploits consumers’ lack of knowledge. The advertisement contravened Chapter I, Clauses 1.4 and 1.5 of the ASCI Code, and Clause 1, 1.1(a) and 1.3(a) of the ASCI Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media. This complaint was UPHELD. The CCC noted that the influencer has modified the advertisement by adding an appropriate disclosure label. The CCC was informed that the ASCI had previously contacted this influencer on multiple occasions advising that the post/story/video should contain disclosure of material connection. The CCC also noted that the influencer continued to avoid adding disclosures and did so only on receipt of a complaint from ASCI. It has been observed that the influencer is a repeat offender and frequently violates ASCI Influencer Guidelines.