Controversial advertisements showcasing liquor, cigarette and tobacco has been banned since 1995 in India. At that moment all the companies resorted to surrogate advertising. A form of advertising where banned products are promoted on the disguise of another product. However, these brands advertise products such as mineral water, club soda or music under the same brand name to promote their actual product and brand.
The banned products such as cigarette and alcohol cannot be directly advertised and promoted to customers but it can be promoted under the name of another product of the same brand and advertised indirectly so that people can associate with the brand name and remember the main product for which the surrogate advertising is done.
In the current scenario, movies play a vital role in surrogate advertising. we experience a wide range of surrogate adverts nowadays during the ongoing scenes in the films. Every other scene in movies nowadays is promoting one or the other alcohol or tobacco brand through surrogate advertising such as Bacardi, royal stag, McDowell etc being endorsed by famous actors indirectly. Alcohol and tobacco brands have been promoted in movies by actors indirectly showcasing the brand and conveying their message to their customers. Movies are serving as an effective medium for surrogate advertising other than TV commercials.
Kingfisher, McDowell, royal stag etc are some of the brands which use surrogate advertising to promote their products under the name of soda and water. Following the legacy of surrogate advertising, Kingfisher has promoted a lot of things under the umbrella term starting from calendars to club soda and mineral water to sponsoring events under the name of Kingfisher brand and organizing fashion shows an so on whereas royal stag showcasing the star image by featuring film stars and cricketers in their advertisements. On the other hand McDowell promoting soda in their recent advertisements featuring three friends with the tagline of ''yeh no.1yari hai''all brands working as surrogate advertising for alcohol.
However, after the imposition of banned advertising of liquor, tobacco products surrogate advertising came into light and brands are increasingly using surrogate advertising but the sale of banned products had not affected at all in India. Not only ban but an essential education should be provided in order to generate awareness among individuals. As the government is planning to enforce a ban on surrogate advertising the companies have found a new path by turning from surrogate advertising to event sponsorships, organizing events and many more innovative marketing strategies for reaching their customers.
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