Above: A TV grab of  a condom advertisment

Now, no condom advertisements will be visible during the daytime as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on Monday (December 11) issued an advisory to all television channels barring them from airing condom ads between 6 am to 10 pm. The advisory comes after the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) requested I & B Ministry to take a call on such ads and their telecast timing.

It is said that the ASCI received several complaints from consumers on the content of the condom ads and the council found that such ads were meant for adults and were explicit for children. The council had sought the ministry’s suggestion to restrict the telecast timings between 11 pm and 5 am. However, the ministry’s advisory has restricted the timings between 10 pm and 6 am.

The ministry advised all the TV channels, not to telecast condom advertisements which are for a particular age group and could be “inappropriate for viewing by children”. The condom advertisements have been given the time slot of 10 pm to 6 am so as to avoid exposure of such materials to children.

The ministry in its advisory stated that Rule 7 (7) of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 clearly mentions that “No advertisement which endangers the safety of children or create in them any interest in unhealthy practices or shows them begging or in an undignified or indecent manner shall not be carried in the cable service”.

The advisory further stated cited Rule 7 (8) of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, which states that “indecent, vulgar, suggestive, repulsive or offensive themes or treatment shall be avoided in all advertisements”.

Recently, a condom advertisement featuring Sunny Leone during Navratri had drawn protests in Gujarat as the ad hoardings read, “this Navratri, play, but with love”. The protestors contended that the ad was derogatory and “encourage the youth to use its condoms” in the name of Navratri.