There is an anti-advertising sentiment building up in India. Regulators want to cap advertising time on TV channels. And the government wants to take over the business of regulating TV ads from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The idea of a National Consumer Protection Council has been floated by the ministry of consumer affairs. The country, it seems, is up in arms against the thirty-seconder that entertains, irritates and is part of our TV viewing experience.

Why are we getting so rabidly anti-advertising? The reasons are not hard to find. Some of the claims ads make are too fantastic. If one believed advertising then everything from social justice to a fair complexion and good luck can be attained by using some brand or the other. Television channels routinely violate the 12 minutes per hour cap making it impossible to watch a show, film or a match in peace. And advertisers have shown little interest in putting in place processes that screen ads or censor them a la films so that they do not violate any rules.