New Rules of Celebrity Endorsement
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THE ECONOMIC TIMES NOVEMBER 02-08, 2016 WEST New Rules of Celebrity Endorsement Fear of a celebrity endorser going rogue giving you sleepless nights? Worried that the new government regulations will kill endorsements dead? Brand Equity has a few workarounds. By Ravi Balakrishnan and Amit Bapna n a simpler age, all it took to run a Amitabh turbing, Hitler’s on a permanent standby. Bachchan, The Messi Mess: La Pulga found himself in a court room successful campaign was to get a drama that put many brands in a spot of bother. Including Tata Provided you don’t foolishly mix up the two, severed ties who has MS Dhoni Motors which signed on the footballer in November 2015. popular celebrity and get him or rm Amrapali endorsed Maggi you should do just fine. with realty fi her to say something. Anything re- in the past, was after Twitter outrage over dragged into ally — no one was expecting Mark Captain Cool’s association Use a Global Celebrity its 2015 ‘Maggi with the company that A nthony’s speech at Caesar’s burial. is full of lead’ ‘What!’ We hear you say. ‘In this day of Pierce I hadn’t completed its There was no escaping for Nobody got anything close to that scandal. Brosnan not honouring his bond with Pan projects in Noida. Madhuri Dixit Nene either. We suspect this was an aspect not too her part in endorsing allegedlyfor Bahar! And Messi (who was Made of Great many people paid any attention to, leading to lead-full Maggi if his campaign for Tata Motors is to be be- hubris laden lines like “Yeh hum keh rahen lieved), proving that with great power some- hain” (from Amitabh for Nerolac). times comes great irresponsibility?’ Facts Well, how unrecognisably awful things that are admittedly hard to argue with. But have become! At least for the celebrities and at a time when local celebrities face fines or brands, that is. These days if the celebrity is jail time and when a two year embargo seems not making his grossly unpopular views pub- the best option for a dubious claim, who better lic, resulting in a direct impact on the brand, to choose than a foreign face, who probably he’s back pedal ling furiously from an uncool, won’t even come down to the country for the unpopular, possibly unhealthy product. Even shoot? And who, safely ensconced in the home if they back the brand all the way, any claims country, can laugh at our moratoriums and deemed outlandish could land sign other global or local contracts or traipse the celebrity in a world of over to Japan where foreign celebrities are hurt. The government is Maria Sharapova’s legion in advertising, and where no such ‘accidental doping’ scandal formulating rules to pun- in early 2016 put several A breakable bond: 007 restrictions appear to be in place. ish stars for misleading brands in a tizzy. The likes of aka Pierce Brosnan Actor Kajol was ads; recent reports sug- Nike stuck by her. While Tag said he was deceived by dragged into the Maggi Use a Celebrity Who Is Heuer refused to tag along Pan Bahar after the ad controversy too. She gest it’s contemplating a with the tennis super star. was panned. Spit shake? had nothing to do with Quiet Boring two year ban on celebrity I don’t think so. the brand at the time. No, that was not a typo! A big endorsements for those found guilty of Not my soup! problem with celebrities is their infractions. tendency to run their mouths off So, what’s a brand to do, besides lawyering on matters that are none of their damn busi- up and drawing even more impenetrable ness. At least this is the popular view on contracts? We put our thinking caps on Twitter and online comments sections and came up with a few suggestions, where hapless cricketers and actors are with a little help from a few friends in advised by legions of thugs with a remark- the industry. able lack of self awareness to “shut up”, “stick to acting” or “first score a century”. Use a Long Dead Celebrity All of these problems are solved by getting A big problem with every living breathing ce- Aishwarya Rai the sort of star who opens his mouth only for Bachchan and lebrity is they are only human. And therefore Kalyan Jewellers’ an outpouring of platitudes about “the boys just a few nights of hard partying and poor 2015 ad showing and the game”, or how much they respect the decisions away from a snafu that will have the actor lounging army, the government, the country, their under an umbrella people hating not just celeb but brand as well. held up by a “child- peers in the industry, and in fact, everyone Instead, how about choosing from the legions slave” was an in the whole wide world. of dead celebrities whose reputations remain example of culture- Snapdeal snapped ties with Aamir We’ve already had at least deaf advertising. Khan in 2015 after the actor found 2015 was a unchanged, no matter how much fresh evi- himself in an intolerant storm over his one of these, and he’s been turbulent time for dence is unearthed about them? Brand recog- comments on the death of tolerance in massively successful. , Nicole Kidman India. The company, however, said it nition and alignment with values are a snap. for endorsing We are sure among the was just business. So, let the literary giants, scientists, philoso- Etihad Airways hordes of sportsmen, ac- phers, leaders and despots not have died in which was accused tors and politicians there of imposing vain and do your own bit to ensure they don’t Coca-Cola ditched bhai “abusive labor are a few gems of this sort who are waiting fade from public memory. And there’s such aka Salman Khan for a practices on its to be discovered and given a platform. Just a variety to choose from! If you want some- younger face for its macho female employees” don’t expect them to speak up or make the drink, Thums Up. Read: thing pious and elevating, go with Mahatma Conspiracy Theories first move. Gandhi. If you want something dark and dis- Continued on Pg 4 >> al-Qaeda is the former’s extensive and effective use of the latest communication As The Signs On The Backs Of tools and social media to broadcast its propaganda and to fill its ranks. Consider the ISIS entrance test. Unlike the tough ISIS Averted! entry-barriers for al-Qaeda, all ISIS asks Trucks Say, ‘Tata Ok Please’. of its new recruits is a pledge of allegiance haring photos of cats, cars, and in 140 characters. Thus, in part, explain- WHAT DOES THE How Facebook, Twitter kebabs on Facebook, Twitter or ing its success in the years from 2013 to CONTROVERSY ByInvitation and Alphabet via its Instagram. No big deal, right? until recently in recruiting, and inspiring SIt is, however, a massive deal “lone-wolf” attacks. SURROUNDING think-tank Jigsaw are when the individual sharing The efficacy of ISIS’s media operations THE ABRUPT EXIT those photos is an Islamic State (ISIS) has been extensively covered and deeply OF ITS CHAIRMAN helping thwart the ISIS sympathiser or fighter spreading the studied by governments, organisations, terrorist group’s propaganda. Early ISIS and the press: “Why is ISIS winning the MEAN FOR TATA THE advance online content on social media from foreign social media war?”, “War goes viral”, BRAND? PUBLICIS’ fighters relocated to the “Caliphate” “Terror on Twitter: How ISIS is taking war By Delshad Irani wanted people to believe that ISIS oc- to social media”, “How ISIS conquered BOBBY PAWAR cupied territories are practically like social media”. The Islamic State’s media WEIGHS IN American suburbia, a Wisteria Lane from machinery has been called the “deadliest the TV show Desperate Housewives in media force” in the world and a “media Raqqa or Mosul. And just like how on conglomerate”. Twenty-fifth October Twenty the show the white picket fences and Yet, despite this in-depth understanding Sixteen is a landmark day in manicured lawns masked a rotten core there exists an element of astonishment Indian journalism. It’s the day so did ISIS’s early content. Along with cat at how ISIS has harnessed the power of when journos everywhere glee- pictures titled “mewjahid”, augmenting new media to perpetuate its myths. But fully unbuttoned their cardigans the group’s narrative of utopia were the fact that terrorists today know how of intelligent prose and let their videogame-like hyper-real videos to tweet and make “shareable” videos inner punsters come out and of ISIS fighters in battlefields. It shouldn’t shock us at all. play. As a result we, the readers, used drone footage and GoPro Alex Krasodomski-Jones, researcher were sucker punched by such because of the abrupt change in to create films that appealed at the UK-based think-tank Demos, gems as, ‘Mistry goes Tata bye leadership. to its target audience, mainly said at the recently held Edinburgh bye’, ‘Mistry ends, mystery be- Why is that? Simple. Tata is not disillusioned, marginalised International Television Festival dur- gins’, ‘It’s Tata for Mistry’ and just a conglomerate of compa- young men from beyond ing a panel discussion with a dubious so on. However, they might have nies, it is also a conglomerate of the borders of Iraq and title ‘The Islamic State: Media Channel missed this one, ‘The mystery of brands. Each one of it has its own Syria.