Kalamandir Jewellers Rebuked for Misleading Ad Claims

Surat : Kalamandir Jewellers has faced backlash from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for its recent advertisement that falsely portrayed natural diamond mining as destructive and harmful.

The video commercial  for Rishta lab-grown diamond brand by Kalamandir Jewellers featuring Bollywood actress Shruti Hasan, portrayed natural diamond mining as destructive and harmful for the environment and thus has a premium price than the lab-grown diamonds. 

The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) filed a complaint with ASCI, alleging that Kalamandir’s advertisement spread misinformation and undermined the reputation of natural diamonds. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) found several unsubstantiated claims about natural diamond mining and the environmental impact of lab-grown diamonds.

A legacy of more than 38 years, the journey of Kalamandir Jewellers started in 1986 in the small town of Kosamba near Surat, Gujarat. From a small 200 square feet store in Kosamba, Kalamandir has become India’s leading jewellery retail brand. 

Currently, the brand has more than 1200+ dedicated staff to serve the customers. The company has introduced some of the most prominent jewelry brands like Rishta diamonds, Kingly, Indo-Italian, Purusham, Platinum & Sajdhaj ke.

Kalamandir has been instructed to modify or withdraw the advertisement by 29th August, 2024. This is not the first time lab-grown diamond brands have been criticised for misleading advertising. In 2023, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority took action against similar claims made by these brands.

Richa Singh, Managing Director of India and Middle East, NDC, said: “Honesty and transparency in advertising is important because it promotes fair competition and ensures that the consumer is not waylaid or misinformed. ASCI’s decision will go a long way in promoting the same values within the diamond industry and uphold the integrity of all the players within our business.”

The NDC hopes that this ruling will serve as a deterrent to other brands considering using false claims to market their products. It is essential for all industry players to adhere to ethical advertising practices to maintain consumer trust and confidence.

Response from Kalamandir Jewellers : 

The Natural Diamond Council approached the The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) raising objections to certain statements and visuals imparted within Kalamandir Jewellers’ promotional video “Rishta – Lab Grown Diamonds”. 

Kalamandir Jewellers Ltd. in good faith participated in the ASCI proceedings with a belief that the members of the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), a body of ASCI shall consider our response in an open-minded manner and allow us an opportunity to  submit further exhibits in support of our response. 

Our initial attempts to submit / upload the advertiser response on ASCI portal failed due to technical issues on ASCI portal. While we notified the issues to ASCI in timely manner, the CCC meeting held in June 2024 was conducted in an ex-parte manner without consideration of our advertiser response. The complaint was initially upheld by ASCI in an ex-parte manner without hearing our submissions or advertiser response. 

Thereafter, upon raising further concerns with ASCI, a re-examination of our advertiser response was conducted by the CCC. 

We submitted the advertiser response before the CCC with a list of documents including research reports, news articles, publications and independent ISO 

certifications of our suppliers substantiating the claims imparted within the video in question, addressing each of the issues raised by Natural Diamond Council and communicated by ASCI. The CCC did not find the supporting documents / annexures of our advertiser response compelling. 

As a result we are aggrieved with the outcome of CCC proceedings. We have requested ASCI to submit further clarification with regard to their CCC proceedings.

In response to the objections raised by NDC, we clarify the following : 

• Based on prima facie observation, the most significant distinction with respect to labgrown diamonds is with regard to their origin. The commercial explicitly states the distinctness of origin with regard to lab-grown diamonds and thereby not engaging in any wrongful practices by incorporating the words “100% pure” within our commercial. 

• Our commercial does not in any manner either express or implied, indicate the use of any unsustainable sources of energy or make any assertion in relation to emissions arising out of mining operations.

• The terms portrayed in the advertisement, “eco-friendly” and “green” do not in any manner indicate that lab-grown diamonds have no negative environmental consequences or zero negative environmental consequences.

• The visual representation merely pertains to address the risks associated with mining that the miners may be subjected to based on study of mining accidents reported by leading news agencies and publications in retrospect.

• The visual with regard to lab-grown diamond incorporated within the advertisement does not make any effort to conceal the use of electricity during lab-grown diamond production and neither implicitly, nor explicitly make any such claim of ‘no negative environmental impact’.

• In addition, we are possession of independent ISO certifications of manufacturers and suppliers of LGDs that are marketed as “Rishta – Lab Grown Diamonds” supporting our claims.

Kalamandir Jewellers Limited endeavours to ensure that each of our lab-grown diamond supplier is in adherence to utmost standards of sustainable practices with multiple independent ISO Certifications. Our suppliers incorporate the environmental considerations stated by the UN under its Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs within their operations. Furthermore, our suppliers have implemented renewable energy systems ensuring that significant portion of their energy is derived from solar and wind plants. 

We currently believe, this is a blatant attempt by Natural Diamond Council, a foreign company in collusion with ASCI to undermine our national interest which include efforts from the Indian Government towards promotion and enhancement of lab grown diamond sector, boosting domestic production of LGDs, development of indigenous manufacturing machinery for LGDs and strengthening trade of LGDs. New innovations in production of lab-grown diamonds accompanied with consistent rise in sale of labgrown diamonds constitutes a major threat to natural diamond companies. 

We are awaiting further response with the above-requested clarifications from ASCI.