More than 400 ads on crypto violated guidelines: Ad council

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

advertisements violated advertising and promotion guidelines of virtual digital assets (VDAs), and guidelines for influencer advertising in the first five months of this year, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has said. Of the 453 complaints that ASCI took up between January and May 2022, 419 required modifications, with most complaints against influencers. “Some influencers talk so confidently about crypto without fully understanding it. It does create an impression that it is safe, it's fine and a cool thing,” said Manisha Kapoor, chief executive of ASCI.

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Amid a bull market last year, crypto companies flooded Over The Top (OTT) and social media platforms with ads and branded promotions. While the VDA guidelines came into effect in April this year, ASCI’s guidelines for influencer marketing took root in June last year. Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was sued for $258 billion over an alleged Dogecoin pyramid scheme. Musk was one of the key proponents of the meme coin, which broughthordes of Indians to cryptocurrency exchanges last year. Top crypto exchanges such as Coin DCX and CoinSwitch Kuber brought on board Bollywood stars such as Ayushmann Khurrana and Ranveer Singh, respectively, for ad campaigns during the ICC T20 World Cup and the cash-rich Indian Premier League. As much as Rs 50 crore was spent by crypto platforms during the sports events, ET reported on November 16. Financial and legal experts had raised concerns over some ads promoting cryptos, which they said were toeing a fine line between “puffery” and