The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Tuesday, May 30, announced tweaks in its guidelines for campaigns by educational bodies, asking them to refrain from stereotyping low-scoring students as unsuccessful or failures. ASCI is the advertising industry's self-regulatory body.
"While fierce pressure in education is a reality, advertising must not perpetuate this problem, normalise it or exploit student and parental vulnerability," said Manisha Kapoor, ASCI Secretary General and Chief Executive. The body said that it has made the changes following a consultative process, as per a report by PTI.
The guidelines seek to focus on students' mental health and physical well-being. Educational institutions, including universities, colleges, schools, coaching classes and EdTech platforms need to comply with the revised guidelines, an official statement from the body said.
"In FY23, classical education ranked second among the top violative categories with 13.8 per cent of total ads that did not adhere to ASCI's guidelines. Education sector advertisers should not stereotype students based on their gender, or appearance, nor portray those who score low as unsuccessful or failures", ASCI stated.
"While an advertisement may show disappointment with low scores, it must not portray an average or poor scorer as an unsuccessful student or a failure, or show him/ her/them as demotivated, depressed or unhappy, or receiving less love or appreciation from parents, teachers or peers," the body said.
"They should not show school students compromising on sleep or meals to study as this normalises unhealthy habits which are detrimental to student health, the revised guidelines say. Campaigns must not create a false sense of urgency or fear of missing out that could accentuate anxieties amongst school students, or their parents," ASCI added.
They should not suggest that certain subjects are associated with particular genders alone, or that students with high scores are always associated with stereotypical characteristics such as wearing thick glasses, the body said further.
"The ASCI guidelines address the various issues that plague the sector and we hope that the industry will follow these in letter and spirit," Secretary of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Rohit Kumar Singh said, as per PTI.
