Canopy Essence Private Limited - Involve Eminence Eternal Fiber Car Perfume

Recommendation: Upheld | Medium: Suo Motu - NAMS (TAMS)

The ASCI had approached the brand owner - advertiser (Canopy Essence Private Limited) and the influencer (Najeeb Rehman KP) for their respective responses in addressing the objections raised in the complaint. The advertiser and the influencer were also offered an opportunity for a telecon with the ASCI Secretariat, which they did not avail, and the influencer submitted his response. The influencer replied that they will include paid promotions in their upcoming videos. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) viewed the YouTube advertisement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQPoRE13MqY), considered the complaint and the influencer’s reply. The CCC noted that there was no reply from the advertiser. The CCC observed that the advertisement features an influencer promoting the advertiser’s product – `Involve Eminence Eternal Fiber Car Perfume’. The advertisement does not carry any disclosure labels as appropriate to the advertisement, such as “Advertisement”, "Ad", "Sponsored", "Collaboration", “Partnership”, "Employee", "Free Gift", “Affiliate”, “Includes paid promotion”. The CCC noted that, upon receiving the complaint, the influencer has assured that the disclosure label will be added to the advertisement. Based on these observations, the CCC concluded that in the absence of a disclosure label, the YouTube 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 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.