The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in a communication sent to Union consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan has urged to bring "Brand Ambassadors" under the ambit of Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, which has been approved by the Union cabinet last week and which is likely to be introduced in ongoing session of Parliament.
CAIT national president B C Bhartia and secretary-general Praveen Khandelwal in a communication to the Union minister has stated that under new chapter of "Product Liability" added in the Bill, brand ambassadors should be included as service providers since endorsements by brand ambassadors are made primarily with an aim to push the sales of a product and the person doing such endorsement generally enters in to a contract against specific consideration and by virtue of which the brand ambassador becomes integral part of the sales campaign of such product.
Khandelwal said that a team of CAIT would meet with the minister this week to further push this demand.
It is pertinent to mention here that with Nestle’s Maggi found contaminated with lead by government agencies, it has been a continuous demand by some quarters to prosecute the brand ambassadors as well and their accountability should be fixed in such cases.
CAIT further pointed out that since endorsement in an advertisement made large impact on the choice of the consumers, the brand ambassador cannot escape from the liability for the good claims they make in endorsements. Further, the brand ambassadors are not doing any charity but providing commercial services and as such they are the service providers. Their inclusion in Product Liability Chapter in the said Bill will certainly restrict practice of deceptive and misleading advertisements and the consumers will not be taken for a ride.
An endorsement means any advertising message including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a party. Since it has vital bearing on consumers there is a need to bring brand ambassadors under the ambit of product liability, as per CAIT.
