Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has passed an order asking toothpaste brand Sensodyne to stop its advertisements in India.
Sensodyne asked to discontinue its advertisements in India:
On January 27, the CCPA has issued an order against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare Ltd. directing it to discontinue advertisements of its product as it openly disregarded certain norms.
Why did it happen?
The CCPA took the step as the advertisements showed dentists practicing outside India endorsing the products.
As already informed, the regulations governing dentists in India clearly bans endorsement of any product or drug publicly, the CCPA said GSK Consumer Healthcare “cannot be allowed to circumvent the law in force in India and show foreign dentists to exploit consumer apprehension towards tooth sensitivity.”
“Therefore, advertisements of these products in India which show endorsements by dentists practising outside the country qualify as ‘misleading advertisement’ in terms of Section 2 (28) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019,” the order said.
Director General asked to submit report:
The CCPA has also asked the Director General (Investigation) to submit a report within 15 days after probing the claims “recommended by dentists worldwide”, “world’s no.1 sensitivity toothpaste” and “clinically proven relief, works in 60 seconds” and the documents submitted by the company in support of these claims.
GSK Consumer Healthcare spokesperson said in a statement, “We confirm the receipt of the order from the CCPA. While we are looking into it in detail, we would like to clarify that our marketing initiatives are compliant with the applicable laws and industry guidelines. We are a responsible and compliant company which is committed to the welfare of its consumers.”
Naaptol Online Shopping Ltd sued for displaying misleading unfair trade:
Besides, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has passed an order against Naaptol Online Shopping Ltd. for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practice, and asked it pay a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on February 2.
