"Let's gear our advertising to sell goods, but let's recognize also that advertising has a broad social

responsibility." Leo Burnett

SURROGATE MARKETING

Recall a situation when, you are watching your favorite program, suddenly an advertisement on TV starts that shows dance on the club boat, party with music be watch a you wanna c, and it finally closes with Bacardi brand showcasing BAT as their LOGO and the end says cassettes and cds available on SONY. This is nothing but the simplest example of surrogate marketing. Or to simplify the concept, it is making an advertisement for the bad. The essence of Surrogate marketing lies on Communicating the value of a particular banned or illegal product/service of a company by using certain acceptable brand extensions of the same

company with the same logo and brand name. It refers to intentionally utilizing a company, person, product or service to help convey the message of another product or service. It can also be define as duplicating the brand image of one product extensively to promote another product of the same company.

This is the only way to glorify the harmful products like liquor, and cigarettes so that they can still take away the mind share of people because the manufacturers of these brands are not allowed to advertise and hence they masked their actual product. Either writing them on Papyrus, painting it on the walls, printing it on the paper, showing a commercial on the television or using web, advertisements has always been beneficial for the marketers to generate revenue by increasing their sales of products and services by gaining awareness amongst consumers. A company always tries new ideas to attract consumer. But what if the government intervention restricts you to advertise your product. The then company has to think of some other way to occupy a consumers mind. Surrogate Marketing is thus used. It is when another product is promoted to advertise a banned product. The word Surrogate actually describes a thing or a person that takes the place of, or is used instead of somebody or something else. It was long back in UK, where housewives protested against the advertisement of liquor. So the government banned such advertisements. The liquor company found a way to promote their brand by using a cover product and thus surrogate marketing was born. In India product advertising for liquor and cigarette companies is banned since 1995 by Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act. So the companies used the formulae used in UK. Even during 1996 world cup there was huge uproar against the fact that Wills was given the main sponsorship. The main arena where Surrogate Marketing is widely used is to promote Cigarettes and Alcohol. In case of liquor, Surrogate Marketing is done through the cover products of the company like Audio Cds, Mineral Water, Apple Juice, Soda, Sports Gear etc. (Kingfisher beer as Water, Royal Challenge Whiskey as Golf Accessories, Smirnoff Vodka as audio cassettes and CDs, Haywards 5000 as darting kits). Even the Royal Challenge Whiskey is the main Sponsor of Banglores IPL team. Moreover liquor companies package the cover products like soda and Apple juice in such a

way that it help in generating Top of the mind recall of a customer, in case he is not brand loyal. Whereas in case of cigarette surrogate marketing is now done by Sponsoring events like Fashion Weeks, events like rock shows and selling other cover products (Wills as sports gear and Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week). This is only because government intervened and stopped direct audio, visual marketing of such products. Then why dont Government take any step to stop the advertisement of Pan Masala, as they are also injurious to health? And if the government has such concerns about their people, why dont they stop their production and selling also? Only because liquor, cigarette and pan masala companies result is contributing maximum amount to the government tax of every country. According to an article in IBN, published in 1st May, 2008. During the financial year of 2006-2007, liquor contributed to nearly Rs 30, 000 crore accounting for over 11.5 per cent of the tax revenues in India. This clearly shows that companies are really generating massive amount of revenues to be able to the government as taxes.

SURROGATE ADVERTISING
'Surrogate Advertising' is a form of advertising which is used to promote banned products like cigarettes and alcohol, in the disguise of another product. This type of advertising uses a product of a fairly close category ex- club soda, or mineral water in case of alcohol, or products of a completely different category ex- music CD's, playing cards etc to hammer the brand name into the heads of consumers. The banned product (alcohol or cigarettes) may not be projected directly to consumers but rather masked under another product under the same brand name, so that whenever there is mention of that brand, people start associating it with its main product(the alcohol or cigarette). In India there are tons of companies doing that, from Bacardi Blast music CD's , Bagpiper Club Soda to Officers Choice playing cards.The masking product i.e the music CD's, or mineral water might not even be marketed in real,it is just a strategy used to generate top of the mind recall.

POSITIVES
This kind of marketing acts as a tool for the product, for which otherwise marketing is banned in various nations due to laws, however these businesses bring lot of revenue both to the government and organization as whole. For example beverage industry in India is worth sixty thousand crores and contributes around twenty two thousand crores to government of India.

NEGATIVES
It is the cons that has always been in news about the surrogate marketing. These campaigns primarily promote the products which in a way are unhealthy, unethical, or illegal. For example organizations promote their brands of alcohol by tying the brand names to more acceptable products like soda or mineral water, and in this way customer gets confused in figuring about the relationship between two products, and they get lured to it.

IMPACT ON STAKEHOLDERS AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Positive Economic Government generates revenue Profiting media by paying high advertising cost Social Dont effect on others who are unaware Focused to selective target segment Leads to healthy environment Legal Company doesnt breaks the legal spectrum Leads to promote unhealthy products Challenging the ethical way of doing business Misleading to younger generation Company ends up with high cost of advertising Negative

Typical Alcoholic/Narcotic brands and products promoted by surrogate marketing Brand Communicating product Main Product Category Whisky Whisky Cigarettes

Bagpiper Water and soda, cassettes, CDs McDowells Water and soda Red and White Teachers Bravery awards Kingfisher Calendars and mineral water Pan Parag Pan masala Johny walker Royal Golf accessories and mineral Soda Bravery awards

Whisky Beer Gutkha Whisky

Whisky

challenge water Four square white Wills lifestyle Bacardi Cassettes and CDs Rum Vodka Apparels, Accessories Cigarettes Water rafting and gliding Cigarettes

Smirnoff, Apple juice Aristocrat 502 Pataka 502 Pataka Tea

Bidi

SURROGATE MARKETING IN INDIA

India too falls under the category of countries who have prohibited advertising of alcoholic beverages, but still companies and brands make their own efforts to do the same. Four major players in the Indian markets are doing this. 1. Diageo Diageo has built associations with its brands Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker. Smirnoff with its cult associations with electronic music with events such as War of the DJs, Nightlife Exchanges etc, and Johnnie Walker with its famous advertisements on Keep Walking with celebrity achievers such as Vijay Amritraj and Narayan Murthy, successfully associating Johnnie Walker with success and also making the brand logo well known (the famous Striding Man logo, which also has a society in its name the Striding Man society, for Johnnie walker drinkers) 2. Sab Miller Sab Miller has been promoting Haywards 5000 with campaigns featuring Bollywood actors such as Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Dutt. The catch of course is that they are shown to be promoting Haywards 5000 soda, and not the beverage. And soda promotion is perfectly acceptable. Observe one of the ads below: Also, there have been campaigns building an association between their brand Fosters and Australia. 3. Bacardi Many can recall the Bacardi ads of yore with the famous Bacardi Music! Again, it was not the beverage brand that was being promoted. The direct promotion was for the Bacardi Soda and the Music CDs, but indirectly, a brand name for Bacardi was built

4. UB Group United Breweries is the group which has really exploded the restrictions, expanding surrogate methods of branding in all directions imaginable. a) Kingfisher Kingfisher has the most diverse set of surrogates floating around: a) Kingfisher Airlines (even though it is a full fledged business with a monetary interest); b) Kingfisher Calender; c) Kingfisher bird as a part of the logo of NDTV Good Times (co-branding) d) shows on making of the calendar on NDTV Good Times etc. Vijay Mallya himself is a popular brand ambassador now for the company. b) Bagpiper A host of ads on Bagpiper soda, featuring Akshay Kumar and a few others, with the now-famous tagline: khoob jamega rang jab mil baithenge 3 yaar aap, main aur bagpiper again, promoting Bagpiper soda. c) Royal Challenge: A major property in the form of Royal Challengers Bangalore playing in IPL. d) Whyte and Mackay: nothing notable apart from being present on the RCB IPL jerseys e) White Mischief: an indirect promotion through the White Mischief holidays, and also through the RCB cheerleaders Surrogate marketing is definitely here to stay, because the prohibition is unlikely to be removed any time soon, and alcohol companies would likely never cease to exist. And as long as both business interests and restrictions remain, surrogate marketing will thrive.

Legislative Measures
The Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act, 2003: This Act was enacted to implement measures to ensure that effective protection is provided to non-smokers from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke and to protect children and young people from being addicted to the use of tobacco; It was also considered expedient to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products which are injurious to health with a view to achieving improvement of public health in general as enjoined by article 47 of the Constitution; Section 3(a) of the said act defines advertisement as including: any visible representation by way of notice, circular, label, wrapper or other document and also includes any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting light, sound, smoke or gas

Interpretation: Surrogate advertisements clearly come under the definition as it involves making the tobacco labels clearly visible to people through other products by the same name. Moreover the public is always reminded orally of the tobaccos brand name through the advertisements of such other products. So such advertisements are liable to be a subject matter of this Act and therefore subject to its restrictions. Section 5(1) of the Act states: No person engaged in, or purported to be engaged in the production, supply or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products shall advertise and no person having control over a medium shall cause to be advertised cigarettes or any other tobacco products through that medium and no person shall take part in any advertisement which directly or indirectly suggests or promotes the use or consumption of cigarettes or any other tobacco products. Section 5(3) of the Act states: No person, shall, under a contract or otherwise promote or agree to promote the use or consumption of (a) Cigarettes or any other tobacco product; or

(b) Any trade mark or brand name of cigarettes or any other tobacco product in exchange for a sponsorship, gift, prize or scholarship given or agreed to be given by another person.

Demerit: This section restricts advertisement, promotion of tobacco products for direct/ indirect pecuniary benefit. It is narrow since it doesnt take within its ambit the scope of promoting tobacco through brand extension and sponsorships.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare made certain amendments to the above act in 2005, stating that the word indirect advertisement mentioned in Section 5(1) would mean: - The use of a name or brand of tobacco products for marketing, promotion or advertising other goods, services and events; - The marketing of tobacco products with the aid of a brand name or trademark which is known as, or in use as, a name or brand for other goods and service; - The use of particular colours and layout and/or presentation those are associated with particular tobacco products; and - The use of tobacco products and smoking situations when advertising other goods and services. Merit: Its a comprehensive definition and the amendment has taken care of the legal lacuna pointed out above.

Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) code:

ASCI is a voluntary self-regulation council, registered as a not-for-profit Company under section 25 of the Indian Company Act. Its formed to safeguard against the indiscriminate use of advertising for the promotion of products which are regarded as hazardous to society or to individuals to a degree or of a type which is unacceptable to society at large. Section 6 of the said code states: Advertisements for products whose advertising is prohibited or restricted by law or by this code must not circumvent such restrictions by purporting to be advertisements for other products the advertising of which is not prohibited or restricted by law

or by this code. In judging whether or not any particular advertisement is an indirect advertisement for product whose advertising is restricted or prohibited, due attention shall be paid to the following: (a) Visual content of the advertisement must depict only the product being advertised and not the prohibited or restricted product in any form or manner. (b) The advertisement must not make any direct or indirect reference to the prohibited or restricted products. (c) The advertisement must not create any nuances or phrases promoting prohibited products.

Interpretation: It specifically prohibits surrogate advertising and lays down guidelines which qualifies it to be so, namely - Whether the legal product under a tobacco brand, sought to be advertised, has been produced in reasonable quantities or not. - Whether in the disputed advertisement, there are any direct/indirect clues to the promotion of the restricted product i.e. tobacco or not.

The Prohibition of Publication or Telecast of Vulgar, Obscene and Surrogate Advertisements and Re-mix songs by Print and Electronic Media Bill, 2004: Though the bill hasnt yet seen the light of the day, the broad framework has been laid down by the legislature and given to the executive to frame the details under delegated legislation. It was initiated to provide for total ban on the publication of surrogate advertisements showing substitutes of products, particularly of liquor and tobacco products by magazines, newspapers, etc. and telecasting of surrogate advertisements so as to protect the Indian culture and values For the first time, a legal definition of surrogate advertisements has been attempted through Section 2(d), which states: an advertisement which shows a substitute product in the guise of the real one which otherwise cannot be legally advertised through the print and electronic media. Section 3 prohibits the publication by print media and telecasting of surrogate advertisements and provides that violators of the said provisions shall be punished accordingly.

Issues for concern

In a significant policy shift, the government has in principle decided to permit nonliquor and non-tobacco advertisements of Kingfisher and Wills brands on TV channels. This is despite the fact that the Cable TV Network Rules, 1994 Rule 7(2) (viii) prohibits direct or indirect consumption, sale or production of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants. Recently, the Information and broadcasting ministry has assured the people that all surrogate advertisements would soon be barred from appearing in any form of media and stricter measures of surveillance to identify such advertisements would be put in place. - Manufacturers further reduce the chances of young people failing to get the message by sponsorship of sports teams and events and music concerts having particular appeal to the young.

New govt rules to rein in surrogate advertising

The government has come up with new rules to rein in surrogate advertising of liquor and tobacco products. The new rules prohibit companies from making references to their liquor and tobacco brands in the advertisements of non-liquor or non- tobacco products. The companies will also have to ensure sufficient availability of such products in the market on which there is no ad ban. Since the Cable TV Act prohibits advertising of liquor and tobacco, companies often resort to promoting them through the advertisements of their non-liquor or non- tobacco products, which often have the same brand names. Companies such as Kingfisher have several businesses - such as mineral water, airline and soda - with the same brand name. While the health ministry has been pitching for a blanket ban on surrogate advertisements of liquor and tobacco products, the I& B ministry has amended the Act, making it mandatory for such advertisements to be passed by the Censor Board.

To regulate the economics of surrogate advertising through products such as bottled water, music CDs or soda, the government wants the companies to file a certificate saying these products are available in sufficient quantity in the market. Moreover, the money spent on their advertisements should not be disproportionate to the actual sales turnover of the products. Officials said this has been done to check the practice of liquor and tobacco companies of floating brands of non- prohibited items just to be able to make surrogate advertisements. After liquor and tobacco advertising was banned by the government, the manufacturers diversified and started selling other products to maintain the recall value of the original brands. In many cases, the same taglines are used in the ads of the non- prohibited products which were earlier used for liquor or cigarette brands. Now, no direct or indirect reference to the banned products can be made. The use of same colours, presentations, layout or phrases as in the original ads has been prohibited. Even the story board or visuals should not resemble. The new rules even ban using the same situations used for promotion of prohibited products. This means ads of water or soda manufactured by liquor giants will no longer show groups of friends enjoying, a situation typical to liquor ads. To make sure these rules are followed in the right spirit, the government has made it mandatory for the ads to be cleared by the Censor Board.