In a recent development, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety advised government and industry stakeholders to work out a mechanism so that only advertisements conforming to safe road practices are released.
Due to the rising concern on the depiction of rash, negligent and dangerous driving in various advertisements on TV channels and print media, the Committee directed The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Press Council of India (PCI) to work with ASCI on eradicating the issue. MIB also suggested that a preventive action is more appropriate so that advertisements depicting violation of traffic rules are not aired.
Currently there is no pre-censorship of advertisements and we believe that this would never be needed if industry members demonstrate responsible advertising by adhering to Self-Regulation of the advertising content. The Supreme Court Committee complimented ASCI on it’s work and suggested that the industry members may be educated about ASCI Self-Regulation code. Details are available.