Last Updated on June 13, 2021 by Team THIP
Quick Take
A Facebook page shared a photo of a newspaper advertisement claiming that an Indian company has invented a ‘coronavirus resistant’ mattress. We Fact Check and found that the claim is False.
The Claim
A Facebook page named WHE has shared the photo of a newspaper advertisement that shows a ‘Anti-Corona Virus Mattress’ by an Indian company named Arihant. The post reads, ‘In todays world of #coronavirus people are fighting over toilet papers to hand sanitizers but indian company has come up with a unique product. This ‘corona resistant’ mattress is apparently being sold for Rs 15,000, and is also anti-fungal and anti-allergic.’
A snapshot of the post is given below:
Fact Check
Who is Arihant? Did they publish the advertisement?
Arihant is a furniture manufacturing company in India. The advertisement was published in a regional newspaper on March 13, 2020. It displayed a “corona-resistant mattress” priced at ₹15,000 and with a five-year warranty.
Is the claim of “corona resistant mattress” true?
Absolutely not. No such invention was patented. WHO or Indian Govt. also had issued no notification about any such invention.
The claim was a marketing gimmick that was immediately complained against. Amar Parekh, the proprietor of the company, had been booked by local police for making statements amounting to public mischief under the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) also condemned the Advertisement.
Since then, the company has also retracted the Advertisement and no such claim is currently made on its social media channels.
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