One student - two ranks: Narayana Institute makes a marketing ‘blunder’

New Delhi: It’s June and a series of misleading advertisements by coaching institutes are flooding the market. One such incident recently came to the public eye because it featured on the front page of TOI. On June 10, 2024, the front page of TOI carried a print ad by the Narayana Institute that featured the same student’s photograph with AIR 1 and 11.

The clumsy marketing made the Narayana Institute a subject of jokes on a variety of social media platforms. A Reddit user said, “Narayana can get you two ranks in the same exam (Rank 1 and 11)”

Several social media users started calling out the twisted marketing techniques employed by coaching centres across the country.  The post that gained the most impressions was posted by an ‘X’ user @GabbbarSingh. The user said, “When I was a kid, and if Sachin got out early, I used to think, why can’t we send Sachin again, with some disguise, nobody will notice with a helmet on? Now check the 1st and 11th rankers.”

The advertisement be it ‘hilarious’ or ‘a blunder’ raised questions about the inept marketing practices adopted by coaching centres. There have been instances where the same student is often seen in the advertisements of two different coaching centres.

Such misleading campaigns when exam results are still being declared often create a false sense of urgency or fear among students or parents. Misled by these false claims, parents spend their hard-earned earnings on coaching institutes influenced by the flashy marketing campaigns run by coaching centres.

Last year the consumer protection regulator, the Central Consumer Protection Authority  (CCPA), probed 20 IAS coaching centres for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices of using toppers and successful candidates' names and pictures to influence prospective aspirants. The notices were issued to coaching institutes for deliberately concealing important information about successful candidates. 

Earlier this year, the CCPA released draft guidelines for the “Prevention of misleading advertisement in the coaching sector”, which bring such offences under the radar of the Consumer Protection Act. However, the effectiveness of these guidelines remains a big challenge for the regulating agency to solve ahead.