Govt Directed Social Media Giants And TV Channels To Drop ‘Obscene’ Deo Ad

The information and broadcasting ministry directed a TV channel and social media giants Twitter and YouTube to pull down from their platforms the “derogatory and obscene” advertisements of a deodorant brand, Layer's Shot.

Several social media users as well as Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said the series of suggestive ads were said to be trivializing sexual violence against women.

The ministry’s action followed advertising self-regulatory body ASCI deeming the ads to be in violation of advertisement codes.

In separate emails to Twitter and Facebook, the I&B ministry’s assistant director (digital media), Kshitij Aggarwal cited various sections of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 to ask the platforms to take down the offensive ad.

Mentioning that the ads were also broadcast on TV, he said that the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which lays down the code for self-regulation in advertising on TV in accordance with the Cable Television Network Rules 1994, “has also found the video to be in violation of its guidelines”.

Maliwal wrote to I&B minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday about the “misogynistic” perfume advertisement being aired on television. She also issued notices to the Delhi Police cyber crime branch demanding the registration of an FIR and removal of the content from mass media.