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Endorser Due Diligence

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Discover how ASCI supports endorsers and celebrities in preventing misleading or invalid claims in the advertising they appear in.

Endorsers, especially celebrities, feature in advertisements to promote products and services. This has a massive impact on the average consumer.

As consumers deeply trust some celebrities/ endorsers and follow them. It is important for such celebrities/ endorsers to ensure that the advertisements they feature in are truthful and honest, and that the claims made in the advertisements are not misleading and/or can be validated after independent and scientific scrutiny.

Both the ASCI code as well as the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 require celebrities/ endorsers to ensure that representations made by them in advertisements do not mislead consumers.As such celebrities/ endorsers may not be technically qualified to ascertain if the claims or representations they make are capable of substantiation. To help them, ASCI offers a service called ‘ENDORSER DUE DILIGENCE’.

ASCI offers the ‘ENDORSER DUE DILIGENCE’ (EDD) service with its long established expertise in the area of advertising claims and representations, through its extensive panel of advertising and technical experts. ASCI’s technical expert panel comprises well qualified and experienced specialists from over 25 disciplines- such as Ayurveda, Formulations, Microbiology, Electronics, Market Research, Nutrition, Financial services and so on.

The service is similar to pre-production/pre- release Advertising Advice that ASCI offers to the Advertisers, however this is a specific service to be issued in the name of the celebrity/ endorser as part of their independent due diligence. Endorsers who can avail of ASCI’s Due Diligence service may include celebrities as defined under ASCI Guidelines for Celebrities in Advertising and/ or any other person endorsing products or services in an advertisement.

A panel called the ‘Endorser Due Diligence Panel’ (EDDP) of experienced persons has been formed within ASCI who collectively have:

  1. Technical knowledge of claim support required for advertising claims across sectors.
  2. Experience in working at the ASCI Board and/or its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC).
  3. Understanding of the Consumer Protection Regulations.
  4. In-depth knowledge of the ASCI Code.

Each EDDP shall have experts from the following fields:

  1. Technical (expert in the relevant sector as required in case of technical claims)
  2. Legal (a lawyer or a retired Judge)
  3. Advertising

The EDD service shall have the following essential characteristics:

  1. The Due Diligence exercise shall be confidential in nature.
  2. It will be issued in the name of the endorser
  3. It is advisory in nature
  • A Requester can register for the Endorser Due Diligence service here https://bit.ly/EDDRegister. In case of any query, you can write to [email protected]
  • Endorsers may seek the EDD service from ASCI either directly or through their Agency or the Advertiser, provided the Advertiser/Agency submit a written authorisation provided by the Endorser.
  • The EDD advice shall be issued only in the name of the Endorser upon completion of the exercise.
  • The Endorser seeking EDD support shall send the proposed advertisement’s storyboard or a/v script for TV / radio and copy plus visual for print / digital advertisement (“Advertising Material”) with specific, if any, concerns they want the ASCI EDD panel to look into.
  • The Advertising Material shall be submitted with the entire evidence and technical/non-technical data available for substantiation of the claims forming part of the Advertising Material. Advice provided on deficient documents (such as only conclusions of test results, rather than full detailed reports and methodology) may result in a faulty/incomplete conclusion.
  • The ASCI EDD Panel would provide its feedback on the Advertising Material and the claim support within the stipulated period and seek clarification(s) required, if any.
  • ASCI shall issue the due diligence advice to the Endorser upon completion of the exercise and receipt of applicable fees, as per prescribed timelines from having received a complete request.
  • The endorser or their authorised agent may request for a meeting with the technical expert, along with technical representatives of the advertiser, if they wish to understand the technical expert’s opinion in greater detail. This will be scheduled subject to the expert’s availability and mutually agreed timings.
Technical (7 Days) Non-Technical (7 Days)
Charges for EDD in INR Rs 1,90,000/- Rs 75,000/-

* All days refer to business days (Monday through Friday)

Subscription Model: On request by the Endorser/Celebrity/ Celebrity Management agency a subscription model can be put into place

For Non-Members a Vendor Creation Form will have to submitted, which can be downloaded from here:https://bit.ly/ASCIVendor

On receipt of your request an invoice will be generated by the Accounts Team.

Clearance of the same is essential as the process to fulfil the other perquisites shall begin then.

The payment can be made by NEFT/Demand Draft and the details are as below: In case of NEFT / RTGS. The Demand Draft should be drawn in favor of

Beneficiary Name: The Advertising Standards Council of India

Bank Name: Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

Branch : Worli, Mumbai 400018

Savings Account No. 9446440135

IFSC Code: KKBK0000634

MICR Code: 400485042