SC sets aside ban on cigarette advertisement featuring Akshay

Mercifully there is a law in place completely banning cigarette advertisements, or else, this Supreme Court judgment could have dented the campaign of health minister Anbumani Ramadoss against film actors smoking in public.

It set aside a national consumer forum directive to Godfrey Phillips India to discontinue all advertisements featuring actor Akshay Kumar with a slogan ‘Red & White smokers are one of a kind’ as it allegedly gave an impression that smokers of the particular brand could perform stunts like the actor thus, distracting the consumer from the statutory warning.

It also disapproved of the direction of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to the manufacturer to issue corrective advertisements of equal size in newspapers to neutralize the effects of the ‘misleading advertisement’ issued earlier. Moreover, it had asked the company to pay compensation of Rs 20,000 to the complainant.

Allowing the appeal of the cigarette manufacturer, an apex court bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam said the directions issued by the commission were based purely on surmises rather than facts.

The bench accepted the argument of the manufacturer that the direction for discontinuance of the advertisement was issued on the surmise that it was misleading even when there was no suggestion in it that Akshay Kumar could perform the stunts with or without duplicates.

Terming the award of compensation as unsustainable, the bench said: “The complainant himself had stated that he was smoking cigarettes for the last two decades. Therefore, the impugned advertisement cannot be said to have affected the complainant and/or caused any loss to him to warrant grant of compensation.”

“It is not understandable as to how the National Commission even proceeded to deal with the complaint.... Looked at from any angle, the orders of the commission are indefensible and are set aside,” said Justice Pasayat, writing the judgment for the bench. Though Godfrey Philips could claim moral victory and celebrate, if at all, for being absolved of the liability to compensate the complainant, this judgment would not allow it to continue with the advertisement.

While the case was going on in the consumer fora, the government enacted the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, banning cigarette ads. Moreover, it notified the rules on May 31, 2005, and the enforcement of the Act started from January 1, 2006.

The Times of India 17th April 2008 P. 13 New Delhi
With thanks from The Time of India
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