Bring brand ambassadors under consumer law: CAIT to Ram Vilas Paswan

NEW DELHI: Amid the Maggie controversy, trader body CAIT today requested Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to bring brand ambassadors under the ambit of the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015.

The Bill has been approved by the Cabinet last week and is likely to be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), in a letter to the Minister, said that under the new chapter of 'Product Liability' added in the Bill, the brand ambassadors should be included as Service Providers since endorsements by them are made primarily with an aim to push the sales of a product.

The person doing such an endorsement generally enters a contract against specific considerations, by virtue of which the brand ambassador becomes an integral part of the sales campaign of such a product, it reasoned.

Since endorsement in an advertisement made a big impact on the choice of consumers, "the brand ambassadors cannot escape from the liability for the claims they make in endorsements", it said.

"Since it has a vital bearing on consumers, there is a need to bring brand ambassadors under the ambit of Product Liability," it added.