"Hello, friends!" Have you ever noticed your favourite celebrities on TV or newspaper in advertisements for Pan Masala and alcoholic liquor? "But when you watch these ads closely," then you can see that the ads aren't for alcohol or pan masala "instead, it's for cardamon, mouth freshener or soda water." This is known as Surrogate Advertisement. "And in today's blog," "come, let's understand this surrogate mafia properly." *Haywards 500 Soda. Intoxicating friendships.* *Kamla Pasand; unique flavours.* "*This is the new Revolution I want to start," it's called Mardangiri (to man up). Cheers!* "Similar to cigarettes, Gutka is a product that contains tobacco." And people chew it. There are hundreds of research papers in which it has been proven that chewing gutka leads to an increased risk of mouth cancer. "This is the reason why for many years," the sale of gutka is actually banned in most of the Indian states.
"Under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and
Restriction on Sales) Regulation, 2011,"
the government has banned gutka and pan masala that contain tobacco and nicotine. These can't be sold. "But when this ban was enacted," these companies found a loophole. They removed the tobacco from their products and said that they are selling tobacco-free
pan masala. "But along with it, in
a different packet," they started
selling tobacco. Selling 2 sachets
instead of 1. "One for the
tobacco-free pan masala," and the
tobacco in the other. People buy both
packets together and mix them before
consuming. It's the same thing. "Interestingly, their tobacco-free pan
masala still contained areca nuts" it
is a potential cancer-causing agent.
This loophole was in Regulation 2.3.4. Wording it so that it prohibits adding tobacco to any foodstuff. So what did they do? They started selling tobacco separately
instead of adding it to the chewing mix.
That's the loophole. This is only
one thing. "Moreover, these
companies have directly lied to their customers." "In August 2019," 12 pan masala brands were analysed in Bihar. The State Health Department sent the samples
to the National Tobacco Testing
Laboratories. "7 out of the 12
samples.," were found to be
nicotine positive. "Brands like
Kamla Pasand, Rajnigandha, Rajshri were included in the 7." "In their packets, these companies had
written" that their pan masala
didn't contain nicotine. That they are
Nicotine-free. "But actually, their
samples contained nicotine." "Additionally,
all 12 pan masala brands" "were
using a harmful chemical, magnesium carbonate." So many misstatements in their products. "But now, let's talk about how these
companies use advertisements to fool people." "Friends, the thing is," "earlier, ads for tobacco were legal in
India."
Tobacco could be freely advertised. "You might remember, there was an ad
with Akshay Kumar years ago," 'people
smoking red and white are better.' He
was promoting smoking in it. "Thankfully,
today Akshay Kumar stars in anti-smoking ads." Making ads against smoking. That you can see in cinema halls even. The ads of these tobacco products were banned
in May 2003. "Under COTPA,
2003." THE CIGARETTES AND OTHER
TOBACCO PRODUCTS "(PROHIBITION OF
ADVERTISEMENT AND REGULATION OF TRADE AND COMMERCE," "PRODUCTION, SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION)
ACT, 2003." This change wasn't
limited to India. The World Health
Organisation had adopted the WHO FCTC. In
May 2003. Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control. The treaty aimed at
discouraging tobacco use all around the world.
And 181 countries ratified this convention. "But here, the companies found the
loophole" of Surrogate Advertising. "Friends, normally, when a parent
company" "launches various
products," they launch them using
different brand names. With distinct
taglines and logos. "For example,
did you know, that Hindustan Unilever Limited" is the same company producing Cornetto ice
cream and Horlicks powder. "Not only this, Horlicks and Boost, are
products in the same category" but
belong to the same company. The
Hindustan Unilever Limited. But with
different brand names. But what do the
pan masala and gutka companies do? Exactly
the opposite. They sell their multiple
products under the same brand name "the
same tagline, same logo in similar sachets." If they sell their non-tobacco products "under the same name, same tagline and
the same logo," then it would
create a brand recall in people's minds.
This is known as Surrogate Advertising. People would be confused about which product
is being advertised. Pan masala with
tobacco? Cardamom? Or the mouth freshener?
It's being done intentionally. They
want people to be confused. Because they
actually want to advertise their pan masala
"but in small letters, they show that it is their cardamon that's
advertised." This is known as
Surrogate Advertisement. Look at this ad
by Kamala Pasand. Amitabh Bachchan and
Ranveer Singh are on the front page of the newspaper advertising it. "If you look at it carefully," "in minute letters," it's written that it's an ad for
silver-coated cardamon. Other than this
newspaper advertisement they have a
20-second long Blog ad where the father enjoys classical songs "but the son enjoys modern songs," """both of them are
different," "but they have the
same taste when it comes to Kamala Pasand.""" "In this ad, they are holding the sachet
of Kamala Pasand near their mouths"
implying that they consume it. "In
the ad, it's not even clarified which product they are consuming." "But again, if you look really closely,
it's written in tiny fonts" that
they are consuming the silver-coated cardamon by Kamala Pasand. Its sachet resembles that of the pan masala
containing tobacco. "Similarly, if
you watch the ad for Vimal" "with
Shahrukh Khan and Ajay Devgan," "nowhere
in the ad is it specified that it is for cardamon," "but at the end, for a few
seconds," they'll show 'cardamon'
written on their sachet. "Similarly,
alcohol brands use surrogate advertisements" through bottled water and soda. "In fact, even music CDs." Whoever uses CDs for listening to music now? "Friends, our government isn't unaware
of what's happening." "The
Advertisement Standards Council of India,"
ASCI has enacted Advertising Regulations
regarding surrogate advertisements.
It means that laws do exist for surrogate advertisements. These laws state that the product extension must be genuine. "Meaning, if you are selling cardamon,
bottled water or soda," the brand
can advertise only existing products. "They
can't claim to be selling cardamon,"
but they don't actually have a cardamon product. It can't be found at any shop. It's important to have the product. "And according to the rules, the net
sales turnover from the product," must
be at least ₹2 million at the time of the launch of the ad. Or the company may show that they have made asset investments into
the product. "Like, buying land,
building a factory, getting machinery or software" that is exclusive for the product. And its value must be at least ₹100 million.
The next rule states that the product extension should be registered with a government
authority. "Under GST, FSSAI or
FDA." And that it should be audited
by independent organisations. And it's
also mandated that no surrogate
advertisement can hint towards any banned product. Not even imply it. "For example, in Shahrukh Khan's Royal
Stag ad," he says 'keep adding
smalls to make it large.' It isn't
believable that he is talking about music CDs instead of whisky. "For this reason, friends," ASCI had banned 12 advertisements at the
beginning of this year in January. When
their investigation found that there are
ads that hint towards the banned products.
Directly hinting at them. These
ads were run during the last IPL "and
companies like Royal Stag, Sterling Reserve, Blender's Pride were involved in
it." The judgement was passed that
these ads maybe run after suitable
modifications. You can imagine how easy
it is for the companies. "Though
the ad was banned, they can publish it again after some adjustments." "Friends, apart from surrogate
advertisements, there are several unethical marketing tactics," used by the brands. "If you want to learn more about
them," then I'd recommend this book
to you. The Post-Truth Business. Another interesting book related to this is The Psychology of Selling. You'll find the audiobook summaries of both
books on KUKU FM. I've linked them in
the description below. "And since
we were already talking about tobacco,"
"if you are addicted to smoking," "if you just can't get rid of your
habit," "then there's an audiobook
The Power of Habit," "listening
to it, you can learn"
how to let go of harmful habits. KUKU FM is a brilliant audio-learning
platform. "On it, you can find many
such audiobooks." "Normally
you get a discount of 20% on using the coupon code DHRUV20," but there is a special offer for now "If you use the coupon DHRUV50," you'll get 50% off. "But this discount is valid for only the
first 1,000 subscribers." Those who
click the link in the description. "So,
do check it out." And now returning
to our topic. "Kothari Products,
the company manufacturing Pan Parag,"
"had the annual sales turnover for the year 2020," at ₹41 billion. "So, you can imagine?" These companies are earning billions. "For them, showing sales at ₹2 million
per month" "around ₹24 million
per year, how difficult can it be?"
These laws aren't strong at all. "Similarly,
how difficult would it be for them to modify the ad a little and run it
again?" The existing laws have a
negligible impact on these ads. "Even
if a company follows all the rules,"
"suppose Kamala Pasand, Vimal and Rajnigandha" actually have business from silver-coated
cardamon. "That meets the
requirements for the minimum sales turnover," and are genuine products without tobacco in
them. Despite that "using the same brand name and
taglines," "and creating
recall value for the pan masala," aren't
the surrogate ads unfair? Aren't they
unethical? "In my opinion, it has a
simple solution,"
the government should make such a law "that any company selling alcohol or
tobacco products under any brand name,"
shouldn't be allowed to use the same brand name and/or tagline for other
products. "If Vimal wants to sell
its Vimal Pan Masala," then it
shouldn't be allowed to name its other product Vimal Elaichi. Or any similar name. "If Kingfisher Beer exists, Kingfisher
Soda shouldn't." Both should have
distinct brand names. Change the name of
the Soda from Kingfisher to anything else.
And it is a very simple solution.
This should be banned. They
shouldn't have the same brand names or similar brand names. "To do this, a strong political will is
required." "If the government
wants to do this, they can do so immediately." But the entire responsibility can't be
shifted on the government alone. "If
we put aside politics or the legal framework," there is some responsibility on the
celebrities as well. That they shouldn't
advertise such products. "A Goan
oncologist Dr Shekhar Salkar," "the
President of National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication," wrote an open letter to Amitabh Bachchan in
September that he stop doing such ads
and withdraw them immediately. "On
9th October, I tweeted about it too."
"Specifically pointing out Amitabh Bachchan and Ranveer
Singh," and many people had spoken
out against it. Whenever celebrities
come out with such ads. It's quite
simple. These are rich people. "Earning billions of rupees,"
so what is the desperation behind advertising such harmful
products? What's the use of becoming an
influencer or a celebrity if you start
selling cancer to people? "After a
large number of people spoke out against it," "2 days later, the news came in that
Amitabh Bachchan," backed out of
the ad for the pan masala. And that he
had returned the money. It's yet to be
seen how true it is. Because you can
still see the same ad with Amitabh Bachchan on TV. "Additionally, there is a long list of
celebrities" who are literally
selling cancer to the people of the country.
"Ranveer Singh, Shahrukh Khan, Ajay Devgan," and many other celebrities that have starred
in the ads for mouth fresheners in the past
"that were surrogate ads for pan masala," "or 'cardamon' ads," "Salman Khan, Hritik Roshan," "Manoj Bajpayee, Tiger Shroff," "Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra," "Anushka Sharma, Sunny Leone," "Govinda, Mahesh Babu," "Ravi Kishan, Arbaaz Khan," Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar. Though those celebrities should also be
credited who used to star in these ads
earlier "but later when they
realised that they were wrong, they stopped doing these ads." "Like in 2016, when the Additional
Director of the Delhi Government's Health Department " "openly appealed to all the
celebrities," "to stop being a
part of such ads," Sunny Leone had
promised that she wouldn't sign any future contracts for such products.
But there are many
unabashed actors that still continue to
openly star in such ads. "Ajay
Devgan's classic ad that runs so frequently," """It'll be glorious when the
three friends meet.""" Another
Bigpipers' ad featuring Shahrukh Khan. Vimal's
ad still runs with Shahrukh Khan and Ajay Devgan. "Personally, I have no enmity against
any celebrity." "Many of the
celebrities that I named now," are
those whom I love to watch. I love
their work. "Shahrukh Khan, Akshay
Kumar, Hritik Roshan," I love to
watch these actors in films. "Sonu
Sood, I love how charitable he is."
Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most talented actors here. But it is very important to point out the
wrong. Because these have a very
negative impact on the citizens and our society. That's why it's important to point it out. "If you watch your favourite celebrities
doing such terrible surrogate ads,"
speak out against it. Don't
become a blind follower of your favourite celebrity. Send this message to them on their social
media and try to explain this to them
politely. "I hope there's some
change for the better in our country after this blog," regarding these things. Thank you very much!