Explosive Whey Private Limited - Explosive Whey

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 claim in the advertisement, or alternately to substantiate the claim 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 response. The advertiser in their response stated that, “we state that the promotion of the products of EWPL by Mr. M.S. Dhoni and Mr. Kedar Jadhav as ‘owner’ and ‘consumer’ of such Product and same in no manner violates the ASCI’s Code. Mr. Kedar Jadhav is the co-founder whereas Mr.Dhoni is one of the shareholders of EWPL. In fact, association of Mr. Dhoni and Mr.Jadhav as shareholder and co-founder, respectively is a news in public domain and same is present at the website of EWPL”. In support of their response, the advertiser provided declarations obtained from the celebrities (M S Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav). The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) viewed the amazon advertisement (https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CZ42BZZ9) considered the complaint and the advertiser’s response. The CCC observed that the celebrities (MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav) have claimed that the advertiser’s product - `Explosive Whey Athlete Series Whey Protein’ being promoted, has been trusted by them. The CCC took note of the advertiser’s response that both these celebrities being sports and cricket personalities, are owners and shareholders of the advertiser’s company. They have promoted the products of their business, and the claim of “trusted by” represents their usage of the product. The CCC discussed that as claim support data, the advertiser has provided duly signed declarations from MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav. The CCC reviewed both these documents and observed that MS Dhoni has declared that he is one of the shareholders in the advertiser’s company, and he has promoted the said product as a shareholder of the advertiser and user of its product. Further Kedar Jadhav in his declaration has mentioned that he is the co-founder of the advertiser’s company and he has promoted the said product as an owner and consumer of the product. The CCC further noted that both the celebrities have declared that the claim, “Trusted by….” reflects their own experience and usage of the product, and they have not tried to generalize the claim. Based on this supporting evidence provided by the advertiser, the CCC concluded that the claim, “Trusted by MS. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav”, is not objectionable. The said claim is not in contravention of Chapter I of the ASCI Code. This complaint was NOT UPHELD.