AUG-16: TALL TALK
Piggybacking on a name
The advertisement of Royal Stag Mega Music we questioned featured popular Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. It said: “Seagram’s Royal Stag Mega Music. It’s your life. Make it largeâ€. This is a clear case of surrogate advertising. Royal Stag is a hugely popular brand of alcoholic beverage. In fact, ‘Mega Music’ is written in such a small point size that viewers would easily assume that the advt is for the beverage. We wrote to Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) objecting to such a blatantly surrogate advt. Worse still a celebrity is endorsing a brand closely linked to a product which is harmful to health.
Since the advertiser did not provide any data of annual market sales of the product/service advertised, ASCI agreed with us and concluded that the advertisement was a surrogate advt for the promotion of a liquor product. The advt contravened Chapter III.6 (a) (b) of the ASCI Code and the Guidelines for Brand Extension of a product or service. The advertiser has since confirmed that the advt has been withdrawn.
Music to the ears!