Advertisement and Its Misleading

The influence of advertisements on consumer choice is undeniable, and that is why advertisements should be fair and truthful. Advertising is a must for economic growth but should not be allowed to mislead. Misleading advertisement distort completion and also consumer choice. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (now Consumer Protection Act, 2019) does not have any provisions which specifically deal with misleading advertisements. However, they do prohibit “unfair trade practices” and provide for remedies for such cases. Advertisements may be brought under these provisions; however, they are not sufficient to deal with all the aspects of advertisements, which might require regulation. As opposed to India, a number of foreign legislations have specific laws dealing with advertisements. Therefore, this paper aims to make a thorough and comparative study of ethical and unethical advertisements, unethical advertisements which leads to misleading advertisement and identify the hurdles to achieving the basic objects of the consumer welfare legislations to control misleading advertisements, and find out the solutions for the same.