ASCI flags code violation, Byju's WhiteHat Jr withdraws ads
By MYBRANDBOOK
Byju’s WhiteHat Jr has agreed to withdraw five of its ads after being asked to do so by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The ads, shown on TV and social media, urge young children to take up computer programming classes to secure their future.
Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General, ASCI said “ASCI has processed complaints against seven ads of WhiteHat Jr, five of which were in potential violation of the ASCI code. The advertising monitor said WhiteHat Jr had agreed to withdraw the ads. “The advertiser has also assured us of their cooperation to adhere to the ASCI code going forward.”
The ads were criticised on social media for suggesting that knowledge of coding enables children as young as six and seven to develop apps that will have the investors lining up.
Abhishek Asthana, Founder of ad agency GingerMonkey, tweeted, “Whitehat Jr won’t stop showing you ads until you find a girlfriend, get married, produce kids and get them enrolled in Whitehat Jr”. That generated about 2,000 likes and hundreds of comments from irate social media users.
Another tweet that went viral spoke of evoking FOMO (fear of missing out) among parents. “There’s something deeply cringeworthy about ads that feed FOMO of Indian parents. Kind of upsetting actually,” tweeted Amod Malviya, Cofounder of Udaan, a B2B marketplace, referring to the ads.
Karan Bajaj, Founder and CEO, WhiteHat Jr acknowledged the issue in a LinkedIn post. He said,“Feedback on our marketing needing improvement is well-taken. We’ll do better with it. Coding for kids is about the sheer joy of creation, hence I founded WhiteHat Jr.”
Social media users say such ads put pressure on young children and their parents. Some of WhiteHat Jr’s social media ads featured the names of prominent tech personalities such as Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai and Steve Jobs to promote its coding classes. The ads featuring Gates, Jobs and Pichai have been removed.
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