MAM
Govt still to take action against misleading & surrogate ads of liquor brands
NEW DELHI: The Government has not been able to take a decision on allegations of surrogate or misleading advertising in television advertisements of as many as 37 products in the last two years.
A reply given in Parliament earlier this week by Information and Broadcasting Ministry Ambika Soni lists 17 advertisements of 2011 and 20 of 2012 as ‘under consideration’ of the Ministry.
While there were no complaints during 2009, action was taken on all seven complaints during 2010.
The advertisements ‘under consideration’ in 2011 are for products like Bagpiper Club Soda, Bacadardi Together Music CD, Imperial Blue Music CDs, McDowell No. 1 Platinum Soda, Royal Stag (five different versions), Imperial Blue (two versions), Royal Challenge, Kingfisher Premium, Blender’s Pride, Howard 5000 (two versions), Kingfisher Beer, and VB Best Cold Beer.
In 2012, the complaints are for most of the above-mentioned brands, in addition to Carlsberg Beer, Seagram’s Imperial Blue Superhits music CDs, Signature, Tuborg, 100 Pipers Music CDs, Seagram’s Royal Stag Mega Cricket, McDowell Century Soda, Kingfisher Premium Packaged Drinking water, Signature Natural Mineral Water, ICE Music CDs, Teacher’s Music CDs, Signature Parties (sponsored by Karbonn Mobiles), Seagram’s Royal Stag Mega Music, and Seagram’s Natural Mineral Water.
In addition, there was a complaint this year about a misleading advertisement of Garnier Fructus shampoo, and another about Bhavishya Jeevan Amrit which are under consideration.
In most other cases, the matter was referred to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) or the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and these self-regulatory bodies advised the TV channels not to carry the advertisements.
Most prominent among these was the daily telecast of the advertorial on ‘Third Eye of Nirmal Baba’ on some channels.
A total of 43 cases of misleading or surrogate advertisements were received by the Ministry during 2011 and 2012, many of them for the same product telecast in different channels.
Soni said complaints also came for 18 advertisements in the print media between 2009-10 and 2011-12, including three this year which were under process with the Press Council of India.
Earlier this year, MoS C M Jatua had said the Department of Consumer Affairs is holding a series of consultations and workshops with all stakeholders in different parts of the country to create awareness about this issue.
He said the Consumer Protection Act 1986 had ample provisions to act against advertisements making false or misleading representation and these had been duly notified as Unfair Trade practices for which a consumer could approach the Consumer Courts.
The Press Council Act and the Journalistic Norms drawn up by the Council, and the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act apart from the ASCI also had powers to deal with such complaints.
In reply to another question, Parliament was informed that a representative of the Department of Consumer Affairs was now represented on the Inter-Ministerial Committee which hears complaints against TV channels.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
