Madhukar Kamath elected chairman of ASCI

Madhukar Kamath, managing director and CEO, Mudra Communications, was elected chairman of the board of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The earlier chairman was Bhaskar Das of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.

A new board of governors was also appointed.

Dhananjay Keskar, director, IBS (a leading B-School), was elected vice-chairman, while Rajiv Dube, president (passenger car business unit), Tata Motors Ltd, was re-appointed as honorary treasurer.

The other members of the new Board of Governors include:

• Advertisers: Narendra Ambwani (Johnson & Johnson), Gopal Vittal (Hindustan Unilever), Shantanu Khosla (P&G, Hygiene & Health Care),
• Media: Bhaskar Das (Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.), Vikram Kaushik (Tata Sky Ltd.), G Krishnan (TV Today), I Venkat (Eenadu),
• Advertising agencies: Charles Cadell (Lintas India), Arvind Sharma (Leo Burnett), Srinivasan Swamy (RK Swamy BBDO)
• Allied professions: Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), Pranesh Misra (Brandscapes Consultancy), Partha Rakshit (AC Nielsen Research Services)

During  2007-08, the ASCI's Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) deliberated on 122 complaints against ads of which 69 were upheld. In 52 cases, the ads were withdrawn or modified appropriately. 75 per cent of the advertisers had complied, including 58 per cent who are not members of ASCI.