In times of adversity

Brands have been known to piggyback on news to cash in on the buzz it creates, but does addressing the breach of the LoC cross the line

There’s no such thing as bad press, goes an old adage. In the midst of a tense standoff against Pakistan, this proverb could not be truer.

In the aftermath of the Uri attack late last month, India conducted surgical strikes along the Line of Control (LoC) on Thursday. The mood in the country was congratulatory — and with good reason. The Indian army had managed to destroy seven terror launchpads during their late strike.

Latching on to the laudatory mood of the country, a Delhi-based fast food chain, Burger Singh, sent out an SMS to regular patrons. “In light of the surgical strike by Indian defence forces on terrorist camps (POK). We offer 20% off on all orders (sic)” read the SMS. The coupon code used by the brand was a suggestive “fpak20”. MobiKwik, a wallet service too tweeted out a coupon code “1STSTRIKE” ambiguously adding that any similarity with events or characters was purely coincidental.

The Twitterati took instant notice of the brand communications, generating a rather negative response to the messages. Burger Singh later put out a post clarifying its anti-terrorism stance and increasing its discount to 30 per cent, with a ‘politically correct coupon code’ — strike30.

Veteran theatre actor and ad guru, Alyque Padamsee, brushes aside the controversy generated by the brands. “I think Pakistan has been such a thorn in our side for so many years, that there’s a sense of jubilation, especially in Delhi, since it’s the political capital,” he explains. “I see no harm if they wanted to congratulate the brave deed of our boys on the border; it’s perfectly fine.”

Ad filmmaker and Bollywood director, Vinil Matthew agrees with Alyque, but says that such strategies could alienate people too. “If brands are doing this business legally, no one should have an issue with it,” he explains. “It is fine, because at the end of the day it’s simply an opportunity. However, making an extremely serious political issue the base of your marketing strategy might not please a lot of people.”

The surgical strikes are not the first time Indian brands have gone a tad bit overboard, attracting negative publicity in the bargain. After the deadly Nepal earthquake in April last year, Lenskart had sent out an SMS, offering sunglasses at a discounted price to “shake it off like this earthquake”. The e-commerce website subsequently released an apology for its inadvertent choice of words.

“Of course there’s such a thing as negative publicity,” says a highly placed ad professional from Kolkata, on the condition of anonymity. “I have no idea why Burger Singh would do it. Maybe the people who have been congratulating India on the air strikes without understanding the repercussions of war, like something like this. It’s simply latching on to the moment, and could have a negative effect.”

Ad-man Prahlad Kakkar elucidates that it’s a rather common occurrence for brands to seize any opportunity for visibility. “Brands are highly opportunistic,” he says. “They are eagerly awaiting nothing but a mauka to attract as many customers as possible. And so, they don’t care about anything else. According to them, once a customer comes to you, the only way they will come back is if they like your product, and the only way to achieve that is by ensuring a big sample. These sort of discounts, based on whatever events, are just excuses for more sampling.”

The ad professional from Kolkata, however, believes that brands must refrain from capitalising on serious incidents like war. “It’s one thing to latch onto something like an Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt break up; it’s something else when it comes to talk of war,” he says.

Prahlad has a whole different take on this issue. “As a country, we are overreacting to this whole issue,” he states. “This is a very private moment that requires private satisfaction. Politicians are getting on pedestals and shouting that they did this. I find it despicable — it’s the soldiers who did this. We need to celebrate our army and not the politicians. If brands give such discounts to the army, I understand it,” he signs off.