Mamaearth Parent Faces Six Times More Cases Than Patanjali Before Ad Regulator

Honasa Consumer Ltd., the parent company of Mamaearth, has emerged as the biggest offender in terms of advertising violations in the last financial year, the Advertising Standards Council of India has said. At least 186 advertisements from the beauty and personal care company, which also houses brands like Dr Sheth's, Aqualogica and the Derma Co., have been flagged as non-compliant and are in need of modification, the ASCI said in its annual report on Wednesday.

Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved, which is under fire after Supreme Court ordered him to apologise for falsely claiming that his company's products can "cure" serious illnesses, was involved in 28 ad violations in fiscal 2024. These included endorsements of products, such as its Dant Kanti toothpaste, chyawanprash, infection-fighting ayurvedic medicines, heart medicines, ointments, honey, sprays and orthopaedic and pain-relief tablets, according to the ASCI.

It investigated 8,229 ads and 98% of those were found non-compliant. Some of the other major violators include WinDaddy, Fun88 India, Urbanic operator Maysquare Lifestyle Pvt., Rummy, Renee Cosmetics Pvt., Nykaa's Dot & Key and Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt., which is doing business as Unacademy.

IPO-bound kidswear brand FirstCry, which is run by Digital Age Retail Pvt., Parag Milk Foods Ltd., Marico-led Satiya Nutraceuticals Pvt.'s plant-based nutrition brand Plix, beauty brand Plum owner Pureplay Skin Sciences (India) Pvt., Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and Bright Lifecare Pvt. which owns MuscleBlaze and HealthKart, were also among the violators.

Healthcare emerged as the most violative sector, contributing to 19% of the cases, followed by illegal offshore betting (17%), personal care (13%), conventional education (12%), food and beverage (10%) and realty (7%). Baby care emerged as a new contender in the top violators category, with influencer promotions contributing to 81% of babycare cases, the ASCI said.

"With the highest number of violative ads seen online, advertisers and platforms must work more closely with regulators and self-regulators to keep consumers protected," Manisha Kapoor, chief executive officer of the ASCI, said.

Celebrities continued to appear in ads that were in violation of the ASCI code. At least 104 celebrities appearing in 101 ads across sectors like food and beverages, personal care, betting and healthcare were found to be in violation of the celebrity guidelines as they could not provide any evidence of due diligence. "It may be noted that due diligence is also a requirement under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019," the report said.

Over 3,000 ads were reported to be in direct violations of the law. The council has reported over 1,300 illegal betting ads to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and approximately 150 ads promoting liquor, e-cigarettes, and vapes. The Ministry of Ayush received reports of about 1,250 ads promoting drugs and magical remedies.

Nearly 250 advertisers were flagged for possible violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act throughout the year, it said. 

In response to the report, a senior spokesperson at Honasa Consumer said they acknowledge the evolving challenges of the advertising and marketing ecosystem.

"It has been our constant endeavour to educate ourselves and our partners on the guidelines defined by ASCI and be completely compliant with them. Almost 94% of the cases have been around influencer content. While we acknowledge the challenge, we would like to highlight that the dynamics of creator content marketing have been rapidly evolving and since Honasa has potentially worked with the largest creator pool of content creators, hence the quantum looks large, while this is a fraction of the content churned out by the company at large."

The company has enhanced internal protocols to minimise issues, it said. "We are committed to complying with industry standards and maintaining the trust of our customers, which is of paramount importance to us.”