The Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) has asked FMCG major Britannia Industries to withdraw its Milk Bikis campaign in which Amitabh Bachchan asks mothers to give kids a pack of biscuits claiming that it has the power of milk and wheat flour.

The campaign was part of a promo for the Junior KBC program for which the brand is believed to be the main sponsor. The promo of the KBC Junior commercial was aired on television, YouTube, and other social media platforms in which Big B endorsed Milk Bikis. 

ASCI said that it has received a bunch of complaints against the campaign over the past couple of weeks prompting the authority to launch a probe to examine whether the said campaign was misleading.

“Our probe found that the campaign didn’t adhere to our guidelines and the brand has been directed to withdraw the same,” Manisha Kapoor, CEO & Secretary General, ASCI, confirmed the development to e4m. 

Kapoor added that since Britannia has withdrawn the ad, we have closed the complaint. The claim across all ads has to be pulled down, said ASCI.

e4m sought to get in touch with Britannia industries management to get their version on the issue. Their response is awaited.

Netizens and health experts have been calling out the brand as well as Bachchan for promoting “unhealthy food” ever since the ad was aired and shared on social media last week of December. 

A Twitter user wrote, “@Srbachchan You are not only promoting #upf over real food for young children in the name of convenience but also misleading parents abt the true nature of its ingredients 

@BritanniaIndLtd. Milk Bikis pack has 27 gm sugar/100 gm, added artificial flavor milk & inverted sugar syrup.” 

The Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest-India (NAPi), a national think-tank of independent medical experts, pediatricians and nutritionists, has also written to Bachchan against promoting processed food. 

Bachchan, meanwhile, is not the only one promoting processed food for kids. Several celebrities have been roped by top companies to promote various processed and junk food products targeted at children. 

To fight childhood obesity, the international agency wants restriction on all advertisements of food with high amounts of saturated and trans fats, free sugars and salt. The leading categories of advertised foods are soft drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals, biscuits, confectionery, snack foods, ready meals and fast food outlets.

Though there has been no unified statutory framework to regulate food advertising in India, the Consumer Protection Act 2019 provides for a regulatory framework against misleading advertising. Besides, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2019 had recommended that advertisements of unhealthy food in and around school premises be banned in an attempt to promote safe and wholesome meals among children.

ASCI had released guidelines for Celebrities in Advertising in 2017 and then Influencer Advertising in Digital Media in 2021 which placed the onus on the endorsing celebrities to recuse themselves from deceptive or misleading advertisements.