No jail sentence, only monetary fine for celebrities for misleading ads

Celebrities who appear in misleading advertisements might escape jail sentence, but end up paying hefty monetary fines in case the products endorsed by them fail to live up to the claims.

The decision will most likely be taken in a meeting of ministers led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Even though the consumer affairs ministry asked for jail time as recommended by a parliamentary committee, some senior ministers were of the view that this would be too harsh a punishment, given that it would be difficult for celebrities to know the realities behind the claims.

"There was an alternative view against jail term in the first instance," one of the ET sources said. "It was suggested that a more desirable provision could be imposition of exemplary monetary penalty for misleading endorsements."

The monetary fine could be as high as Rs 1 crore, which would, as per the meeting, be an exemplary penalty.

The meeting also saw recommendations being made for dividing products into three broad categories - general, food and medicine, and deciding penalties accordingly. It also discussed that celebrities should not blindly announce what’s told to them, and should observe due diligence.

The debate regarding these ads started last year when celebrities endorsing Maggi noodles, which was banned for some time for containing excessive lead, faced wrath for misleading their fans into consuming something hazardous.

Also read: Nestle India is yet to recover from the Maggi ban, reports 19% slip in net profits

The final decision is yet to be taken by the group, which would meet again for this purpose.

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