Smartphone retailers have expressed offence against an ad by Flipkart featuring Amitabh Bachchan, alleging it is misleading customers into believing online platforms offer better deals than offline retailers.
Context
In a Hindi advertisement promoting Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sale, Bachchan says the kind of mobile deals the ecommerce site is offering will not be available at retail outlets.
This has irked All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) representing 150,000 mobile retailers which has written to leading smartphone brands.
It has asked the brand heads to “issue either a joint or individual statement in prominent news media outlets, publicly clarifying that these statements are not accurate.”
Letter to smartphone brands
“Our purpose in addressing you is to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent wave of derogatory advertisements that have been proliferating across various online platforms, social media, and print media.
These advertisements have been influencing the buying behaviour of customers through false and misleading statements, such as the one promoted by Flipkart with the endorsement of the mega star, Mr Amitabh Bachchan, stating, ‘yeh Dukan per nahin milne wala’ (This will not be found in stores),” AIMRA said in its letter.
Letter to Amitabh Bachchan
It also wrote to Bachchan, stating that his recent ad for Flipkart spreads misinformation and hurts local businesses.
“We are highly disheartened to witness your recent advertisement for Flipkart, where you claimed that deals and offers are not available at shopkeepers, thereby misguiding and influencing the consumers, which we strongly condemn and seek an explanation as to on what grounds you said such words in the advertisement in question,” said the traders association in its letter to the actor.
“We humbly request you refrain from being biased or diverting customers towards online platforms with misleading statements or advertising for monetary gains,” it said.
Demanding Flipkart and Bachchan be fined
CAIT demanded that a penalty be imposed on Flipkart as per relevant provisions of the Consumer Protection Act for “false or misleading advertisement” and imposition of a Rs 10 lakh fine on Bachchan.
“As per the definition under Section 2(47), Flipkart, acting through Amitabh Bachchan (endorser), have misled the public regarding the price at which mobile phones are being made available by sellers/suppliers in the smartphone market of India.
“This has the effect of disparaging the goods, services or trade of another person,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in the complaint.
Invoking law against misleading advertisements
He said as per rule 4 of the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, the advertisement by Flipkart “is misleading because it doesn’t contain truthful and honest representation and is wholly incorrect, malicious, misleading and manipulative”.
Flipkart has now made the ad private on YouTube.
The Big Billion Days sale on Flipkart is set to start on October 8 and run until October 15.
Rival Amazon also shifted the date of its Great Indian Festival sale to October 8 from October 10 earlier.
