Aditya Birla Group - UltraTech Cement Limited

Recommendation: Upheld | Medium: General Public

Ad Description

The print advertisement for UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, states “UltraTech is now the world’s largest cement company*”, highlights a capacity of “100+ MTPA”, and describes the brand as “India’s No. 1 Cement” and “The Engineer’s Choice”. The visual shows a skyscraper shaped like the number “1” with an Indian tricolor ribbon and the Statue of Unity, along with infrastructure imagery including the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, a stadium, metro trains, highways and city skylines. 

Issue

The claim “UltraTech is now the world’s largest cement company*” and the disclaimer “*by sales volume and capacity, excluding China. Creative Visualisation.” were objected to. It was objected whether the claim is misleading as the exclusion is mentioned in fine print, and whether the disclaimer contradicts or modifies the main claim rather than clarifying it and alters the meaning of the headline claim perceived by consumers.

Advertiser’s Response

The advertiser stated that UltraTech Cement Limited has a production capacity of over 205 million tonnes per annum, which is in the public domain and is higher than that of similarly placed global competitors outside China, where the largest players are stated to be predominantly state-owned as per public information. 

They further stated that a headline, by its nature, cannot contain all details, and therefore the accompanying disclaimer is used to clearly qualify the claim. The disclaimer is described as clear, readable, and appearing on the same page, and it is submitted that such use of disclaimers is expressly permitted under ASCI guidelines. The claim is based on specific metrics such as production capacity and sales volume. 

Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) Assessment

Claim – “UltraTech is Now The World’s largest cement company*”

The CCC noted that the claim is qualified by a disclaimer which states, “*by sales volume and capacity, excluding China. Creative Visualisation”.  

The CCC observed that although the advertiser submitted that the communication was intended as a milestone announcement rather than a promotion of any specific product, the publication prominently featured cement-related branding and could reasonably be understood as relating to cement products.

The CCC further noted the advertiser’s contention that the publication did not qualify as an advertisement under the ASCI Code.

In this regard, the CCC referred to the definition of an advertisement under the ASCI Code, which states that an advertisement is a paid-for communication addressed to the public or a section of it, the purpose of which is to promote, directly or indirectly, the sale or use of goods and services. It further includes any communication which may or may not be recognised as an advertisement in the normal course, but is paid for or authorised by the advertiser or its agency.

The CCC observed that the claim, “UltraTech is Now The World’s largest cement company”, was based on independent research reports relating to production capacity and shipment volumes. The claim, as presented, conveys a representation of overall global leadership. Since the disclaimer qualified the claim as being based on sales volume and capacity (excluding China), the material on record was examined against those parameters.

The CCC discussed that while operational data such as production capacity and shipment volumes may indicate scale of operations, such data does not adequately establish leadership in sales volume. It was further noted that comparative sales volume data across relevant global cement companies had not been provided to demonstrate that the advertiser’s cement company was the largest in the world on that basis.

The CCC noted that the creative visualisation accompanying the headline referred to “200+ MTPA”, while the disclaimer stated that the claim was based on both sales volume and capacity. It was not apparent from the advertisement whether the reference to “200+ MTPA” was related to production capacity, shipment volume, or sales volume. The CCC considered that this created ambiguity regarding the basis of the claim.  

The CCC further noted that the advertisement did not disclose the source and date of the research relied upon, despite the claim being based on independent research material.

Based on this assessment, the CCC concluded that the claim, “UltraTech is Now The World’s largest cement company*”, was inadequately substantiated, and is misleading by exaggeration.  

Disclaimer – “*by sales volume and capacity, excluding China. Creative Visualisation”.

The CCC examined the disclaimer in conjunction with the headline claim, “UltraTech is Now The World’s largest cement company”.

The CCC observed that the headline conveyed an impression of global leadership, whereas the disclaimer stated that the claim was based on sales volume and capacity and excluded China from the comparison. The CCC considered that this exclusion was material to the claim and affected the overall impression created by the headline.

The CCC noted that, under the ASCI Guidelines for Disclaimers, a disclaimer may clarify, explain or qualify a claim, but should not contradict or modify the main claim. In the present case, the disclaimer was not merely clarificatory in nature, but altered the scope of the headline claim. The CCC opined that, if these qualifications were necessary for the claim to be accurate, they ought to have been incorporated in the main claim itself.

Decision

Claim – “UltraTech is Now The World’s largest cement company*” – Upheld

Disclaimer – “*by sales volume and capacity, excluding China. Creative Visualisation” - Upheld

ASCI Code / Guidelines

Claim - Chapter I, Clauses 1.1, 1.2 and 1.4

Disclaimer - Clause (1) of ASCI Guidelines For Disclaimers Made In Supporting, Limiting Or Explaining Claims Made In Advertisements.