The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has fined Diamond Paint Industries (Pvt) Ltd. Rs5 million for violating Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010, which prohibits misleading marketing practices.
This decision came after Nippon Paint Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. filed a complaint regarding the advertising of Diamond Paint’s ‘Durasilk’ product on television. Nippon Paint claimed that Diamond Paint’s commercials did not provide complete information about the product.
After investigating the matter, the CCP, under the leadership of Chairman Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu and Member Mr. Salman Amin, determined that Diamond Paint had indeed breached the rules.
The issue was that their TV advertisements did not mention the presence and value of redeemable tokens inside the paint buckets, although this information was clearly stated on the product packaging.
The tokens were meant to be redeemed by customers for certain rewards, and failing to mention them in the ads was seen as a form of misleading marketing.
This is not the first time the paint industry has faced scrutiny for such issues. This case marks the third instance where paint manufacturers have been questioned for not fully disclosing important details in their advertisements.
The CCP’s action against Diamond Paint Industries serves as a reminder to companies in the industry to ensure transparency in their marketing practices, particularly when it comes to advertising their products to the public.
