ASCI, TAM team up to screen ads

MUMBAI: In an attempt to strengthen the process of screening misleading advertisements, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said it has taken up an initiative called National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) in partnership with TAM Media Research.
TAM’s specialist division, ADEX India, will track and monitor roughly 350 TV and 10,860 newspaper ads per week to check if they subscribe to ASCI’s code.These ads will be those that have been categorized as specifically violating ASCI’s ad code related to unsubstantiated, misleading or false claims in the advertisement, the council said.
ASCI chairman I Venkat said, “NAMS will strengthen the ad self regulation redressal process manifold, as we will be able to proactively monitor wider numbers of ads. This will be in the best interest of the Indian consumers as it will significantly reduce release of misleading advertising in India.”
As per ASCI’s agreement with TAM Media Research, AdEx India will identify ads which are in potential violation of Chapter 1 of ASCI code. AdEx India will monitor ads in the auto, banking, financial services & insurance, FMCG, consumer durables, educational institutions, healthcare products & services, telecom and real estate sectors.
“Apart from media measurement, for decades now, we have been playing a silent yet central industry role towards media (advertising) monitoring and analytics as well. Our partnership with ASCI is yet another re-iteration of the neutral role we play within the Indian Advertising landscape,” said L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research.