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When the bear baron Vijay Mallya started a new airline,
he named it Kingfisher, presumably to promote his beer brand. Some even
believe that the very concept of having an airline was to promote Kingfisher
beer. Today, it has become as important a brand for the airline as his
beer, if not more.
Mallya's UB also advertises the Kingfisher bottled water, which probably
does not leave the confines of his many households. The logo on the bottle
instantly reminds one about his beer. This is what worries Mr. A Ramadoss,
the Union Minister of Health who feels that companies like UB are trying
to by-pass the advertisement ban already in place and such surrogate advertising
is in breach of the government policy of banning ads of cigarettes, beer,
wine and other alcohols throughout India.
He also has bones to pick with Bagpiper, McDowell's, Johnny Walker, Haywards,
Derby and Royal Challenge brands of beer and liquor. He does not refer
to the Chantilly ad which unimpressive though, has been the only surrogate
wine ad one has seen on TV and the hoardings for a short while.
In a letter he wrote last month to the Information and Broadcasting Minister,
Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, he named the advertisements for these labels in
the form of sodas, cassettes, CDs, golf accessories and mineral water,
bearing exactly the same brand name and logo as the alco products.
Surrogate advertisements violate the statutory provisions and defeat the
very purpose of the ban imposed by the government on such products, he
says. 'Considering the ill effects of tobacco products, wine, alcohol,
liquor or other intoxicants, the government has banned advertisements
of the products in the media,' he pointed out.
'They have found an alternative path of advertising of products, through
which they keep on reminding consumers of the liquor brands,' Ramadoss
is said to have written in the letter.
Once awareness campaigns against alcohol are launched and I&B bans
surrogate ads, consumption is bound to fall, he feels.
Information and broadcasting minister, Dasmunshi has verbally assured
his cabinet colleague, that all surrogate ads would soon be barred from
appearing in any form of media and stricter measures of surveillance to
identify such ads would be put in place.
It appears, the days of Kingfisher bottled water are numbered.
Subhash Arora
March 8, 2008
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