UK's ad watchdog raps Zee Music for breaching advertising Code

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Britain's advertising watchdog has rapped Zee Music, a prominent Indian television channel, for broadcasting a direct-response infomercial that promises viewers drastic weight reduction by using an exercise machine.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the infomercial breached several sections of the advertising standards Code, and directed the channel not to air it again in the present form.

"The product should not be advertised without adequate substantiation for the claims made for it," the ASA said in its adjudication last week.

The ASA's monitoring staff challenged the infomercial for Ab King Pro, an exercise machine, on Zee Music, that showed people with well-toned and muscular bodies using the machine.

The presenter in the infomercial guarantees that with the use of Ab King Pro 10-day slim-down system, one can lose seven kilogram. Several people featured with before-and-after photographs claimed to have lost weight as a result of using the machine.

Acknowledging the breach of the Code Zee Music stopped airing of infomercial during the investigation. The channel explained to the ASA that the infomercial was broadcasted in error because of a mix-up and a change of sales staff.

It added that they had amended their internal procedures and had retrained staff to prevent that error happening again. The ASA noted that this was the second time that its monitoring staff had contacted Zee Music about the broadcasts of the infomercial.