You must have seen the famous “Ye hai No 1 Yaari” advertisement by Mc Dowell’s for its club soda or the famous jingle of Kingfisher ‘Oo La La La…..Le oh” promoting its’ calendar or the most famous tagline “Men will be Men” of Seagram’s Imperial blue CDs.
At first look, nothing seems common among these advertisements. But if we will look more closely, we will found that all these brands are in the prominent business of selling liquor and spirits. But then the question is- Why such ads are objectionable?
SURROGATE ADVERTISEMENT
Around 1995, there was strong opposition in India for banning the advertisements of liquor, tobacco, and cigarettes as the ads of these products have an immense influence on the consumers. Therefore, the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 read with Cable television Rules, 1994 came into force which banned the direct advertisements of liquor, tobacco, and cigarette. The ban was only put after extensive research by the Indian ministry of health which found the adverse effects of these ads on people. After the ban, these companies started advertising these banned products in the disguise of their other products which are known surrogate advertisements.
As such there is nothing illegal in advertising these products like CDs or soda or mineral water, etc as these are part of the brand extension of the company. But the problem arises when a brand extension is carried out especially in the response to the ban on the ads of one product. Moreover, such disguise adds defeats the whole purpose of banning the ads of liquor and cigarettes as whenever consumers see such add, they start associating the ad with the main product and it leaves the impression of the dominant product only. With time, surrogate advertisements became more predominant with celebrities endorsing these products thereby giving leverage to these banned products.
BANNING SURROGATE ADVERTISEMENT
In 2014, a social activist filed a PIL to ban surrogate ads and urged that all the brand extensions must be verified and only genuine extension should be allowed. However, for an unknown reason, the PIL was withdrawn.
In India, there has been an exponential rise in the consumers of liquor and cigarettes. In such a situation, surrogate ads add fuel to the fire. Several NGOs are campaigning for the complete ban of such products. Therefore, the law must expressly prohibit surrogate advertisements. A proper mechanism should be developed to find out the veracity of the surrogate advertisement, i.e. whether the ad is genuinely for the promotion of the depicted product or the promotion of the dominant banned product. Because these surrogate advertisements are legal but not ethical. Also, consumers must be made aware of the surrogate ads.