Brands
ASCI releases guidelines on award referencing in ads
MUMBAI: The Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI) has introduced guidelines for usage of awards/rankings in advertisements effective 1 February 2020.
According to a press release, “Consumers are sometimes misled into believing that an award or ranking which is given to a brand, product, institute or service makes it superior and /or more authentic.”
To ensure that their claims are not misleading, the guidelines will lend assistance to advertisers for the appropriate usage of reference to awards or rankings in advertising, the release said.
It will also assist the advertiser to understand the rigour required for claim substantiation and pitfalls to avoid so that their claims pass the muster with ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC).
The council urged brands and services to ensure that the accrediting bodies involved in disseminating or presenting awards or rankings are authentic and credible to validate their claims in advertisements.
Moreover, the guidelines are also applicable to all advertisers and would particularly be relevant for healthcare services and the educational sector which tends to use such superiority or leadership claims.
In this regard, ASCI chairman Rohit Gupta said, “Claims such as ranking first in the state or in India, receiving an award for being the most trusted or award of excellence, listed in some book of world records etc. makes consumers believe that the product/service is recognized and trustworthy, whereas in some cases this may not be true.”
He added, “The guidelines are a step towards ensuring that advertisers are cognizant of the serious impact of deceptive advertising and hence make responsible claims when referring to awards and rankings in their advertisements.”
The council said, prospective students and parents easily fall prey to awards/ranking claims by institutes and coaching classes as they rely blindly on such claims. It added that a wrong choice directly impacts the quality of education and the future of children and has a financial implication.
Citing an example of the health services sector, the council said, misleading claims about rankings and awards lure patients in choosing the service provider and could hamper patient health, quality of care received and result in financial losses.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
