SURROGATE ADVERTISMENT

BY
Nikhil Kalra
Nikhil Kumar
Ghanshyam Mundhra

Surrogate advertising
definition
Surrogate advertising is that form of advertising which
is resorted to market such goods and services which
are not permitted to be advertised under the law.
by-akshat razdan(lawinfowire.com )

Surrogate advertising is advertising which embeds a

brand or product message inside an advertisement
which is ostensibly for another brand or product.
by-ajit arun parulekar
(http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-surrogate-advertising.htm)

Surrogate advertisement is generally

understood as the one in which a different
product is promoted using an already
established brand name. such advertisement
or sponsorship helps in contributing to brand
recall.-by pushpinder singh(senior creative director) (O&M)

Groups understanding
Origin: Started in Great Britain, The Housewife
protest
Awakening in India: Acc. To cable tv Act 1995 no
broadcaster is permitted to show an Add. Which
promoted directly or indirectly, sale or consumption
of cigarette & alcohol .
A Market survey revealed that adv. Has a direct
influence on the consumption habits of 2 billion
people and an indirect impact on 900 million
aspirants.

 Liquor producer spends heavily on

electronic media advertising.
Satellite channels gained about 50%
of their revenues from liquor and
cigarette ads.
The ban on ads handicapped
communication with consumers so
liquor companies focused more on
brand building, sponsoring events.
This highlighted the pavements for
BRAND EXTENSION.

Brand Extension
It is an alternative path through
which brands can remind the people
of their liquor/tobacco brands: They
introduce various other products with
same brand name
Related products (Tata tea and Tata
salt)
Unrelated products (Tata tea and Tata
motors)

Merits of Brand Extension

Strong trademarks mean a combination of positive product
attributes mainly reliability and quality.
Branding decisions for new product category have to consider
the appropriateness of the fit between the product and the
trademark, in terms of association, attribute and connotation.
The Government is free to put companies under a scanner to
determine if their umbrella branding strategy is transparent
and genuine. But brand extension across products should be
permitted, except when the purpose clearly is to encourage
consumption of a product whose promos are prohibited by
law.

Portrayal in Movies
In Bollywood , smoking has been a style accessory with the
arrival of Amitabh Bachan in movies more or less depicted him as
rebellion but a man of mission justice inCoolieandSholayand
bidi with time became a part of Bachan persona.
Youngsters feel that cigarette brands are not displayed in movies.
They point out that rather than the characters, its the brand that
the actor smokes off-screen that is likely to have a greater
impact.
it does impress people I am smoking SRKs (Shahrukh Khans)
cigarette brand

ADVANTAGES
Helps company to
generate sales of
banned products
Keeps on reminding
customers of banned
products indirectly
If nobody advertise,
threat of competition
from new players or
new launches by
competitiors is
minimized

DISADVANTAGES
Beats the purpose
of ban on
advertisement of
harmful products.
Harms society as
children not able to
distinguish
between banned
and advertised
products

BRAND EXTENSION ADVERTISING

PRACTICES
Haywards 5000: Soda and packaged drinking
water
Imperial Blue: Music CDs Men will be men
Royal Stag: Music CDs ,Mega Cricket with
theme Make it Large
Bagpiper: Club Soda
Carlsberg Elephant: Club glasses
McDowells No. 1: Soda and Indian cricket with
tagline The No. 1 Spirit of Leadership
Smirnoff Vodka as Fruit Juices.

BLINDED BY REGULATORY
BODIES
Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of
Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution) Act ,2003
The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 (CTNA)No advertisement shall be permitted which promotes directly
or indirectly production, sale or consumption of cigarettes,
tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI):The
ASCI is a voluntary self-regulation council, which has drawn up
a Code of Conduct to control the content of advertisements
with a view to achieve fair advertising practices.

 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

(FCTC):India ratified the Convention on 5th Feb.
2004 and the Convention came into force on 27th
Feb. 2005. The convention seeks to protect
present and future generations from devastating
health, social, environmental and economic
consequences of tobacco consumption and
exposure to tobacco smoke by providing a
framework for tobacco control measures.
Information and Broadcasting(I&B) Ministry of
India.
Indian Broadcasting Foundation(IBF)
Health Protection Act 2002

PRE BAN
Mumbai Grahak Panchayat filed a
complaint against United Breweries
Limited and also Western Railway for
having adopted Unfair Trade Practices in
prominently displaying/exhibiting false,
misleading and surrogate liquor
advertisement on the coaches of the
Western Railway train. United Breweries
advertised and made a claim of Indias
No. 1 and the Worlds No. 3. This
description matches with the Bagpiper
Whisky and not Bagpiper Soda. There
was no Bagpiper Soda in the Indian

The Complainant purchased a bottle of 250

ml. of London Pilsner beer costing Rs. 16/-.
London Pilsner advertisement of Railway
trains proclaimed Ab Cold Drink Out. It
was clear that an attempt was made to
substitute cold drinks with beer. There was
a third advertisement of Derby Special
Soda. On inquiry, it was found that there
was no Derby Special Soda anywhere in the
market and there was Derby Special
Whisky available with wine dealers. These
attempts were highly objectionable,
deplorable and also patently illegal.

POST BAN
A corrective advertisement was ordered by
the State Commission in the Railway coaches
which would read as Keep liquor away from
young generation, Indias No. 1 Only
natural fruit drink, and further Nimbu Paani,
Nariyal Paani, Yehi hai Apna Alag Andaz. From
the point of young consumers whose mind is
easily impressed with foreign names and
brands, these Advertisements by United
Breweries could impress the kids of below 15
who are likely to be swayed by them and that
would remain in their mind and not forgotten
easily.

The words Bagpiper, Pilsner, etc.

would have great influence on them.
When the products of liquor are
advertised associated with such a
message the same cannot be used for
Soda which is not a harmful drink. In
the name of Soda, United Breweries
were using focusing surrogate
advertisement for whisky and beer, the
corrective advertisement was directed
to be placed for one week in the
Railway coaches to negate the previous
misleading advertisement.

 A petition filed in 1999 before the

High Court of Delhi by the Voluntary
Health Association of India, where a
ban was sought on the sponsorship
of the Indian cricket team by the
Wills brand of cigarettes
manufactured by ITC. The
appearance of the Wills logo on the
sports apparel worn by the cricketers
facilitated the repeated telecasting of
that logo to millions of viewers.

CASE 3
During the pendency of this petition,
ITC voluntarily withdrew its
sponsorship of the Indian cricket
team in 2001 citing the reason that it
did not want to derail the genuine
efforts of the government and that it
did not want to take undue
advantage of its position in the
Indian Economy.ITC plays Good
sport, exits sponsorship, Hindu