FSSAI Advertising Rules: What Food Brands Can and Cannot Claim
A food-brand marketer's guide to the FSSAI Advertising & Claims Regulations — permitted claims, banned words, label-ad consistency and penal…
The ASCI Code governs every ad you run in India — TV, print, digital, influencer posts, packaging claims. Violations lead to takedowns, media refusals and, increasingly, escalation to statutory regulators. Here are the rules that matter most in practice.
1. Every claim must be substantiated before the ad runs, not after a complaint. Keep your evidence file ready.
2. "Best", "No.1" and superlatives need independent, current data with the source cited in the ad itself.
3. Comparisons must compare like with like and never disparage competitors.
4. Ads must not exploit fear, superstition or lack of knowledge — a rule health and finance brands trip on constantly.
5. Testimonials must be genuine, current and reflect typical results.
6. Influencer posts require clear disclosure labels — #ad, #sponsored — upfront, not buried in hashtags.
7. Ads targeting children face stricter scrutiny on health claims, safety depictions and pester-power.
8. Foods and beverages cannot claim health benefits without scientific backing (this overlaps with FSSAI rules — see our companion guide).
9. Financial products must state risks with parity — same prominence as the promise.
10. Free offers must be genuinely free; conditions must appear with the claim.
11. Puffery is allowed only where no reasonable consumer would take it literally.
12. If an ad is capable of two meanings, ASCI judges it by the meaning a consumer likely takes — not the one you intended.
Before any campaign goes live through Drive Digital, our team flags claims that need substantiation — it is far cheaper to fix a script than to reshoot a campaign.