Amitabh Bachchan and PepsiCo India: Child Questions – Childish Response?
“A celeb can’t de-endorse a brand he/she has backed in the past on the basis of a comment someone else has made, unless he/she can back the claim with proof.”
– Vinita Bangard, Founder-Managing Director, Krossover Entertainment Private Limited
“I don’t think celebrities have the power to be custodians of brand quality. Celebs endorse brands only for commercial reasons.”
– Shailendra Singh, Joint Managing Director, Percept Limited
On January 30th 2014, a usual interactive session at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) turned out to be an unusual one, for two reasons – first, because the speaker was Bollywood’s6 legend and Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan (Bachchan); and second, the lecture (Q&A session) stirred a controversy in the Indian advertising industry, when Bachchan made a remark about PepsiCo India’s (PepsiCo) soft drink – a brand that he had endorsed for 8 years. Recounting an earlier interaction with a child who questioned, why he was endorsing for a product (brand) that her school teacher opined to be a poison, Bachchan shared with IIMA students how that triggered his decision to disassociate from Pepsi brand.
The incident left PepsiCo’s management, industry veterans and other stakeholders wondering why Bachchan, who has a cult following in the country, made such remarks. After being the brand endorser for 8 years, the sudden public revelation about it created ripples in the Indian advertising industry, damaging Pepsi’s brand equity in particular and carbonated drinks in general. While the actor opined that the act was driven by his due diligence (after being questioned by the child) and conscience, experts wondered whether this was the result of Pepsi’s decision against renewing Bachchan’s endorsement contract. While few support Bachchan’s revelation as they see it as an act of social responsibility, the incident raised questions in the advertising industry regarding the fiduciary/moral responsibility of brand endorsers towards the endorsed brands...............
PepsiCo’s Brand Endorsers in India
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage company, headquartered in Purchase, New York, US, with net revenues of more than $65 billion and 22 brands – including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lay’s, Gatorade, Tropicana, 7 Up, Doritos, Lipton Tea, Quaker Foods, Cheetos, Mirinda, Ruffles, Aquafina, Pepsi Max, Tostitos, Sierra Mist, Fritos and Walkers. Since its origin in the 1880s (founded by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist), the soft drink maker, by March 2014, grew to become the second largest food and beverage company in the world in terms of net revenues with presence in more than 200 countries including India. It also ranked 25th in the Forbes list of the most valuable brands in 2013.............
Amitabh Bachchan and PepsiCo India: Bonhomie to Bewilderment
Amitabh Bachchan, (popularly known as Big B), is an Indian actor who first gained popularity as the ‘angry young man’ in the early 1970s. During the 1980s, he became one of the greatest and the most influential actors of the Indian cinema. On July 26th 1982, he had a near fatal intestinal injury while filming a fight sequence for the movie Coolie, and was hospitalized for several months. Prayers were offered in temples and mosques all over the country and there were long queues of well-wishing fans outside the hospital...........
Brands, Brand Endorsement and Brand Consumers: The New Roles of Engagement?
In the world of celebrity endorsements, it usually happens that brands dump the celebrity. For instance, Nike dropped Lance Armstrong, Accenture severed ties with Tiger Woods and Thums Up dropped its brand ambassador Salman Khan (signed again in October 2012). Is industry witnessing a reversal in trend? On January 29th 2014, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson (Johansson) had to choose between, an Israeli fizzy drinks company, SodaStream International’s (SodaStream) Ad and being a global brand ambassador for Oxfam, an anti-poverty organization that objects to SodaStream’s plant in the West Bank settlement...........
Exhibits
Exhibit I: PepsiCo’s Brands and Brand Endorsers in India
Exhibit II: Pepsi’s Brand Ranking
Exhibit III: PepsiCo’s Campaigns/Taglines in India
Exhibit IV: Pepsi’s Successful Advertising Campaigns in India
Exhibit V: Comparative Test Performance Score of Carbonated Beverages
