Education has been one of the most misleading sectors when it comes to advertising, says an Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) report.
The report “Raising the Bar on edtech Advertising” published this year says that 31 out of the 100 ads analysed made superlative claims about having the best and largest resource, such as the best teachers, largest faculty, top educators, best study materials, best tuitions, etc.
More than 25 percent of ads make promises like helping students improve marks or guarantee success.
The report said that aggrieved parents have spoken out in large numbers on social media, in order to bring attention to issues around infrastructure, quality of teachers and refund of fees, etc.
According to the report, edtech communication was skewed towards traditional and popularly acceptable domains rather than encouraging curious self-learners inclined towards unconventional career choices.
Experts prefer ads that celebrated children as being unique and created an intimidating vibe to exams that was equated to ‘children going to war.’
The panel of educationists who drafted the report was also in favour of ads highlighting group learning, as they reinforced the importance of social skills, particularly after the extended isolation forced by the pandemic.
While the ASCI had issued detailed guidelines on advertising for the larger education sector as early as 2013, it may be time to consider a review to address the new concerns.
Most ads focus on maths, science
The ASCI report further showed that representation is skewed towards boys even though four in five edtech ads show kids. Only one in every four ads depicted both boys and girls as the protagonists. For the role of the single protagonist, boys were chosen 1.8x times over girls.
In ads showing maths as a subject, boys were chosen as the protagonists in almost four of 10 ads. Ads showcasing science as a subject fared better, showing boys, girls, or both, as the main character almost equally.
The report also showed that the majority of the ads focus on maths and science, and only about a fifth depict other subjects. Interactions with parents showed that those belonging to metro cities were more concerned about ads that feature mainly maths and science as subjects. They also found extra-curricular activities missing from the ads.
‘Only 55 ads out of 100 depicted teachers’
ASCI analysed 100 ads and found out that while 55 depicted a teacher, only 14 had an active role for the teacher, or showed an active teacher-student interaction.
Out of those, teachers were shown being compassionate or encouraging only in nine ads. Of the 55 ads that featured teachers, 39 showed men as teachers, while 29 showed women teachers. Among ads depicting celebrities, 32 of the 33 had male celebrities as the lead. Film actors were present in 28, and sports stars in five.
The report found out that nine in 10 parents feel ads are important, and hence trust these ads.
Multitasking parents heavily depend on information shared through advertisements while making choices about classes/ courses in which to enrol their child. Edtech users attach significantly higher importance and trust in advertisements. Parents from non-metros are also seen trusting these ads more than parents from metros.