Recently there has been a case in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against Patanjali and its brand ambassador Baba Ramdev, saying that ads released by Patanjali are spreading misinformation about modern medicine products. The trigger was a series of Patanjali advertisements in Indian newspapers in July 2022 claiming that ayurvedic products could cure chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and autoimmune conditions. The IMA petition alleged that such claims violated India’s Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.
During the hearing, the two-judge bench of the SC asked Patanjali Company and Baba Ramdev to tender a public apology for the misleading information given in the ads. Further, the SC has temporarily banned Patanjali from advertising certain items due to a history of false claims.
The issue is getting a political touch also- it is well known fact that Baba Ramdev is staunch supporter of BJP and PM Narendra Modi, and the govt lead by PM Modi is in favour of promoting ayurvedic and other alternative medicines like Unani medicine, homeopathy medicines etc. The world Pharma lobby does not like that other alternative medicines to become popular, and the fact is that many people in India and the world are in favour of alternative medicines and they are turning against allopathic medicines promoted by the big multinational pharma companies. This can lead to situation where these pharma companies will start losing their clout in the market and which in turn will affect their profit margins.
It looks like the SC is trying to become the morality inspector to tell which product is bad based on the competitor’s allegations. The truth about ayurveda is well known from the ancient times, which is an old science of Indian well being, and has been proven by Vedas and purans from the olden days. It has become a standard phenomenon in our country after independence that unless some product is endorsed by the big pharma lobby, then only the product becomes acceptable to the government. Which started changing slowly after 2014, with the start of Modi regime, and this is not liked by the lobbyists.
Now the SC finds the ads released by Patanjali are spreading misinformation and they are misleading, but there are many such ads released by multi national companies , they are clearly spreading misinformation and promoting their products without ant scientific/medical proof. I am listing below few such ads:
1 Ads released by Complan– where they show the child after consuming this product starts improving the health and even his/her height is increased. Similar ads are also released by Horlicks, Boost and Bournvita.
2 Series of ads released by a soft drink Mountain Dew, where they show after drinking this soft drink you can conquer your fear. Like riding a motor bike and jumping from one mountain cliff to other cliff, with a tagline ‘Dar Ke Aaage Jeet Hai’.
3 As if there was no waist pain in India before, but it went away after people starting using Moove.
4 Series of ads released by Fair and Lovely for women, and Fair and Handsome for men, for making dark skinned people fair skinned.
5 Ad showing one person is trying to catch fish, but no fish is coming to the hook. Suddenly a person comes with a fishing rod and apply few drops of Fewiqwik on the rod, and puts the rod into water with the result within no time fishes get stuck to rod.
6 There was an ad released by Orbit Chewing gum, where it shows that after chewing this gum your teeth becomes so white that you do not need lights in case of power failure.
In reality, fact is that from the day ads started appearing in media, more than 90% ads are misleading, but the SC is awaken now. SC says Patanjali ads are misleading, as they are showing by consuming Ashwagandha with milk you can increase your weight, or juice of Aloevera and Geloy is great immunity booster, etc.
It looks like judiciary is finding problems with Indian medicine system, Yoga, Ayurveda . The problem is with IMA, who is being threaten with the popularity of alternative and generic medicines, and with the support of world pharma lobby they hire top most lawyers to fight these types of cases in the Indian courts.
Now justice should apply equally to all the products.
Few days back I was very happy to read in the media that Bournvita is not allowed to promote as a health boosting drink, otherwise the Bournvita ads were showing after consuming Bournvita the child stamina is building up and he is winning the race.
The problem with our elite class thinks whatever west is promoting is always the best, and they are in habit of degrading ancient Indian products which have proven records, as they are not accepted by the west therefore they are useless.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
22nd April 2024