According to the Times of India, students from the prestigious law school have focused in on what they are referring to as ‘false advertisements’ in regards to fairness creams, hair damage therapy products, anti-dandruff, and sunscreen lotions.
‘No comprehensive legislation’
According to Ashok R Patil, associate professor of consumer law and practice, there currently is no comprehensive legislation to control misleading ads in India.
“False ads are not just unethical but violate several rights of the consumers. Our students buy these products and test them on themselves before filing cases," he adds.
Patil goes on to explain that; “The students found that the effect of these cosmetics were far from the claims made by the companies manufacturing them.”
“When our students checked on the basis for the ad claims, they were surprised to find the companies relied totally on their R&D lab. One firm did a survey on 100 persons for the entire country and then made the claim,” he added.
Following the testing phases, the undergraduates then followed up with a legal notice before filing a total of ten law suits, of which companies they targeted - is still to be revealed to the public.
‘Centre against misleading ads’
NLSIU is said to have focused a trimester of students course on the impact of misleading ads and consumer law, in an effort to combine forces with ‘The Centre’, a body that is looking to establish a national consumer protection agency under the consumer affairs ministry to monitor and penalize misleading ads.
“We thought it fit to train our future lawyers in the subject by devoting a subject to it," Ashok explains.