The Central Consumer Protection Authority has directed discontinuation of ‘Sure Vision’ advertisement and imposed a penalty of Rs 10 Lakh over false and misleading claim. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) comprising Chief Commissioner, and Commissioner, recently passed the order against Sure Vision India regarding misleading advertisements for its product "Sure Vision" which claims that " Sure Vision improves eyesight naturally; Eliminates eye strains; Exercise the cilliary muscles; World's best unisex correction apparatus". The company was not able to substantiate its claims related to the efficacy of the product made out in the advertisement.

A complaint against Sure Vision India regarding alleged misleading advertisement for its product "Sure Vision" was received by the Authority. Thereafter, CCPA initiated necessary action on the complaint. On 25.02.2022, CCPA passed order directing Director General (Investigation) to investigate the claims made by the company in the advertisement.

As per the investigation report submitted by the DG (Investigation), the company's claims have been found to be superfluous and ought to be rejected as no reference to any research conducted either by the company or by any other organization on the product being advertised has been furnished. Further, the Pinhole technology used by the company in the product "Sure Vision" is primary a "diagnostic" intervention and not a "therapeutic" intervention as claimed in the advertisement. Hence, the DG (Investigation) opined that the company's claims are misleading and uncalled for.

It may also be mentioned that, even during the course of hearing before the CCPA, the company had admitted that, the claims viz "It improves eye sight naturally; Eliminates eye strains; Exercise the cilliary muscles; World's best unisex correction apparatus" were made in the advertisement without substantiation by any scientific/Laboratory test report with regard to the efficacy of the product. Further no specific marketing study/survey were conducted by them to substantiate their claim.

In view of this, the CCPA observed that, the advertisement of the product "Sure Vision" was published  without any credible scientific study and no marketing research was conducted by the company to substantiate their claims made in the advertisement, thereby exploiting the sensitivity of the consumers with regard to vision related problem. Further, the name of the product "Sure Vision" is itself capable of creating a false and fake notion and fantasy of surety of clear vision in the minds of consumer. Hence, the advertisement was found to be false and misleading.

Therefore, the CCPA has directed Sure Vision India to discontinue the advertisements of their product "Sure Vision" which make the claims "It improves eye sight naturally; Eliminates eye strains; Exercise the cilliary muscles; World's best unisex correction apparatus" and also imposed penalty of ₹10,00,000 on the company, under the provisions of Section 21(1) and (2) of the Consumer Protection Act,2019.

Earlier, CCPA has also imposed penalty of ₹10,00,000 each on Naaptol and GSK for its Sensodyne toothpaste for their misleading advertisement. They were also directed to discontinue their advertisement.

In the wake of consumer sensitivity around Covid-19 pandemic, CCPA took stringent action against misleading advertisements whereby 13 companies withdrew their advertisements and 3 companies made corrective advertisements.

Further, to safeguard consumer interest against misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices, CCPA has also issued two advisories. The first advisory was issued on 20.01.2021 calling industry stakeholders to cease making misleading claims that take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic situation and are not supported by any competent and reliable scientific evidence. The second Advisory was issued on 01.10.2021 highlighting compliance of the provisions of Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020 which require every marketplace e-commerce entity to prominently display all information provided to it by seller under Rule 6(5) including name, designation and contact information of the grievance officer of the seller.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has been established under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 to regulate the matters related to violation of right to consumers, unfair trade practices and false or misleading advertisements prejudicial to interest of public and to safe guard the rights to consumers as a class.

 

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