It appears
that after years of flouting the government norms
and circumventing the laws through surrogate advertising,
the law is ready to confront the industry.
A bench comprising Chief Justice
Vijendra Jain and Justice Mahesh Grover of Punjab
and Haryana High Court has issued notices to Information
& Broadcasting (I & B)Ministry and a few liquor
companies on a Pubic Interest Litigation writ petition
(PIL) that asked for restraining liquor companies
form promoting their products, directly or indirectly,
in the country through advertising.
Notices have been issued to I&B
Ministry, central board of film certification, Jagatjit
Industries, United Breweries, SABMiller India, Bacardi
Martini India, Seagram India and Diageo India for
submitting their reply by Oct 30.
The petition that came for hearing on Thursday prayed
for restraining the respondents from promoting directly
or indirectly the sale and consumption of wine, liquor
and other alcoholic products on TV and print media,
that is being done in total violation of the rules
and notification dated 9.8.2005 issued by the ministry
of information and broadcasting.
According to the notification, advertising of a product
that uses a brand name used by a liquor product must
not contain any nuances or phrases used by the liquor
product and must not use particular colours, layout
and presentation associated with the liquor product.
All such advertisements also need to be previewed
and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification
prior to telecast
However, the advertising rules are
being flouted openly by the liquor companies across
the board and the government's apathy in this regards
is deplorable, says the petition. The petition submits
that through catchy advertisements aimed at promoting
liquor products, the liquor companies in India are
targeting the youth of the country.
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