In brief: A Diwali campaign checklist for a small brand tests five things before launch: the price, the urgency lines, the offer conditions, the influencer labels and the written terms. India’s 2023 dark pattern guidelines list 13 specified dark patterns, including false urgency, basket sneaking and drip pricing, and apply to platforms, advertisers and sellers. The government’s summary of the 2022 misleading advertisement guidelines says a disclaimer must be in the same language and font as the claim, and ASCI says any paid or gifted brand promotion needs a disclosure label. Kosmonk IT Pvt Ltd, a digital marketing agency in Ahmedabad, advises that nothing goes live until a second person has read it the way a customer will.
Picture a small sweet shop near C.G. Road, two days before its Diwali sale. The ad is booked and an influencer has the gift box. But nobody has checked whether the offer itself is honest. A Diwali campaign checklist does that job, by testing your price, your urgency lines, your conditions and your influencer labels before launch.
This guide covers the offer and the ad copy. For dates and posting plans, see our festive season campaign planning guide. Diwali falls on 8 November this year, so there is still time.
Key Takeaways
- India's dark pattern rules name 13 practices, and they apply to sellers and advertisers too.
- Show every charge before payment, and never add items without consent.
- Only claim scarcity that is true.
- Influencers need a clear label such as #ad on every paid or gifted post.
- Misleading ads can draw a penalty of up to ₹10 lakh.
What Belongs on a Diwali Campaign Checklist?
Five checks, run before anything goes live. Is the price in the ad the price people pay? Are your urgency lines true? Do your conditions sit where people can see them? Is every influencer post labelled? And are the offer terms written down? The first four map to rules India already has. The fifth is simply good practice.
The first rulebook comes from the Central Consumer Protection Authority, the government’s consumer watchdog. Its dark pattern guidelines came out on 30 November 2023 and list “13 specified dark patterns” (PIB release on dark patterns). A dark pattern is a design trick that pushes people into buying or agreeing to something they did not plan to. The rules reach well beyond big apps. They apply to platforms that sell in India, to advertisers and to sellers. A small brand that runs a Diwali ad is an advertiser, and one that sells online is a seller too.
The second rulebook, from 2022, covers misleading ads. The third is a guide for influencer posts from the ad industry’s own body, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
These checks are a practical first pass, and a lawyer is the right person for anything unusual. Most of the work is simply reading the ad as a customer would, line by line, before it runs.
Is Your Offer Price the Price People Will Pay?
It has to be. Two named dark patterns deal with price. Drip pricing hides parts of the price until late, and basket sneaking adds things to the cart that the shopper never chose. Both are common in festive checkouts, and both are easy to fix before launch.
The guidelines call it drip pricing when “elements of prices are not revealed upfront” (dark pattern guidelines). So if the ad says ₹999, the checkout should not quietly turn it into ₹1,149. These figures are made up for illustration.
Basket sneaking means adding products, services or donations at checkout “without the consent of the user”. A pre-ticked box for gift wrap or an extended warranty is the classic example.
There is a fair exception. The guidelines say “addition of necessary fees disclosed at the time of purchase, shall not be considered as basket sneaking”. Delivery charges and taxes are fine, as long as the shopper sees them clearly before paying.
Do one test order yourself before launch. Use a phone, because many festive shoppers check out on one. Note every rupee from the ad to the final screen.
Are Your "Only 2 Left" Lines True?
Only if the stock and the deadline are real. Scarcity sells, which is why festive ads lean on it. The rules allow a real deadline or real low stock. They name invented urgency as a dark pattern, so every countdown and “few left” line in your campaign needs a fact behind it.
The guidelines describe false urgency as “falsely stating or implying the sense of urgency or scarcity”. The aim of such a line is to rush a purchase. They give an example that will look familiar: “Only 2 rooms left! 30 others are looking at this right now”.
They also name “stating that quantities of a particular product or service are more limited than they actually are”. So a “last 10 hampers” line is fine if you have 10 hampers. It is a problem if you have 300.
Countdown timers need the same care. If the timer resets every time the page loads, the deadline is not real. If the sale truly ends at midnight on 8 November, say so, and then actually end it.
Do Your Offer Conditions Sit Where People Can See Them?
How Should Influencers Label a Diwali Post?
With a clear label, placed where people see it first. Any paid post needs one. So does a gifted hamper, a discount code or a barter deal. The Advertising Standards Council of India’s guide for influencers spells out when a label is needed and where it should go on each platform.
ASCI’s guide says a disclosure is needed “if there is any material connection between the advertiser and the influencer” (ASCI guide for influencers). It counts a brand that “gives you free/discounted products or other perks” as a connection. So a Diwali hamper sent to a creator counts, even with no fee.
Placement matters as much as the label. The guide says “Don’t hide away disclosure labels under a group of hashtags”. On Instagram it says to “Include the disclosure label in the visible text/post description.” For Reels and Stories, the label goes on the video itself.
The dark pattern rules add one more line. When a seller or advertiser posts an ad, the duty to say it is an ad falls “on such seller or advertiser”. So check the creator’s post before it goes up, and keep a copy. If you work with creators often, our influencer marketing team can build this check into your briefs.
The Diwali Campaign Checklist, Line by Line
Run this table once for the offer and once for each ad. Kosmonk’s advice is simple: nothing goes live until someone who did not write the offer has read it the way a customer will. A second reader spots gaps the writer has stopped seeing.
The five checks become seven rows here. Price splits into the checkout and the cart, and budget gets a line of its own.
Keep the written terms where your team can find them. When a customer asks on WhatsApp whether a product is included, everyone gives the same answer.
Where to Start
Remember one thing: a Diwali offer works best when the ad and the checkout tell the same story. Start your Diwali campaign checklist today with one test order on your phone. Compare every rupee on the final screen with the price in your ad.
Then check your sale lines and your creator posts against the list above. Write the offer terms down in one place.
If you want a second pair of eyes before launch, our Meta ads team in Ahmedabad can review your festive ads with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the dark pattern rules apply to a small shop's website?
Yes, they can. The guidelines name advertisers and sellers as well as big platforms. A small brand that runs ads counts as an advertiser. If it sells online, it counts as a seller too, so the rules on pricing, urgency and disclosure reach it.
Can I use a countdown timer for my Diwali sale?
You can, if the deadline is real. A timer that resets on every visit, or a sale that keeps running after the timer ends, creates false urgency. Set a real end time and stop the offer when it arrives.
Does a gifted Diwali hamper need an #ad label?
Yes. ASCI’s guide treats free or discounted products as a material connection, so the creator should label the post even if no money changed hands. Ask for the label in your brief and check the post before it goes up.
Is it fine to add a delivery charge at checkout?
Yes, as long as it is shown clearly before the shopper pays. The guidelines treat necessary fees disclosed at the time of purchase as fair. Charges that appear only after the shopper confirms are the problem.
Where should offer conditions go in an ad?
Next to the claim, in the same language and font. If the headline says 50% off, the condition belongs right beside it, in the same size. Better still, put the condition in the headline.
