Larger font size, prominent placing of disclaimer: Delhi HC on Airtel’s IPL ad

The Delhi High Court has issued certain directions to Airtel with regard to its controversial advertisement which is aired during the Indian Premier League matches. The Court has also asked the telecom giant to comply with the same forthwith..The order was passed in a plea by Reliance Jio through Advocate KR Sasiprabhu. The plea filed by Jio alleged that the Airtel advertisement, which offered “live and free” access to Twenty-Twenty cricket coverage, was deliberately deceptive, misrepresenting and misleading..Airtel had earlier, agreed to modify its advertisement and include a disclaimer stating that only the subscription of ‘HOTSTAR’ shall be free and that the data charges will be as per subscriber’s tariff plan..The Court, in its order, has directed that instead of using size 10 font in the disclaimer in print media, Airtel should use size 12 and that the disclaimer should be at a prominent and visible place and not at the bottom..Regarding electronic media, the Court said that the disclaimer should start from the words ‘Season Pass’ in the advertisement and should be displayed in sync with the voiceover. The disclaimer on billboards and hoardings should also be at a prominent place..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna had reserved its order on Wednesday after hearing arguments from both the sides..There were heated exchanges between Senior Advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for Airtel and Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan representing Reliance Jio regarding the font size of the disclaimer..Chidambaram had vehemently argued that size 10 of the font was as per the ASCI standards and that there was no judicial precedent to make the font larger in an advertisement..Image is taken from here.