Well this is not a new feature in WhatsApp or anything, but it’s something that could end up being quite useful for those in India. That’s because they will now be able to report misleading commercials by companies, in order to bring them to the notice of advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
This will make it even easier for people to report objectionable content in advertisements. The number you need to store for lodging complaints over WhatsApp is (+91) 7710012345. Once it’s added to your list of contacts, you can easily send over your data to the ASCI.
You can support your grievance with some photographs of the offensive advertisement as well. They can be of print ads, hoardings, packaging, websites or TVCs. Moreover, links to sites as well as YouTube videos can be sent to the ASCI as well via WhatsApp.
A dedicated a team from the association will scrutinize these grievances, and will take them further if found valid. A similar method also exists on ASCI’s official website as well as its Android and iOS apps that were released last year.
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The advertising watchdog’s chairman Benoy Roychowdhury has said that ASCI is wants to empower the consumers by making itself more accessible. This launch, coupled with the fact that so many people these days are using WhatsApp makes it easily possible for them to flag false, misleading or offensive ads, even while on the go, said he.
Like we said, (+91) 7710012345 is the number you need to save on your smartphones in order to be able to file any type of complaint to the ASCI regarding an inappropriate ad.