ASCI clears Kellogg’s from plagiarism charge, Eatfit files for review

After multiple hearings over the last one month, the consumer complaint council of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has cleared Kellogg’s from the plagiarism charge.

EatFit, the homegrown health food platform, which had levelled the charge against Kellogg’s has filed a review petition against the council’s decision, an official from the firm told e4m.

The hearing on the review petition is slated on March 17. 

Kellogg's campaign had run into controversy over the tagline “Kuchh Kar Dikhane Ki Bhookh”.

ASCI officials refused to comment on the development stating, “As per the process, our final order in the case will be published on our website after disposal of the review petition.”

Eatfit had last month approached the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) alleging that global cereal brand Kellogg’s has lifted its advertisement “Kuchh Kar Dikhane Ki Bhook” launched for the ICC world cup last November and used the same tagline in the latter’s campaign.  

EatFit claimed that it launched the campaign with the same name during the ICC Men’s international T20 World Cup 2022. This campaign was also aired on ‘Shark Tank’ India, where EatFit was a sponsor of both the show and the cricket tournament.

Kellogg’s had denied the charge and asserted that the tagline “Kuchh kar dikhane ki bhookh” is a colloquial phrase used by several brands over the years. 

Welcoming the ASCI order, Kellogg’s official said, “ASCI has clearly agreed with our stance that both advertisements are not similar so as to suggest any kind of plagiarism. The self-regulating body appreciated that the two advertisements are entirely dissimilar in terms of their portrayal, dialogue, imagery, and audiovisual elements and also noted the distinct tag lines of the two advertisements.”

“It further acknowledged that the use of the term "bhookh" by various food-related brands is quite inevitable and not distinctive or exclusive to either campaign. It understood the fact that our campaign had undergone thorough research and was finalized by September 2022 well before the airing of the complainant’s advertisement in October 2022, thus rendering the blatant accusation of plagiarism completely baseless and unfounded,” the spokesperson said, adding that they were grateful to ASCI for this decision as it re-affirms beliefs in creative ethics while establishing the fact that the campaign bears no similarity whatsoever with any other campaign, past or present.