M.

Com Sem III

CHAPTER 1 :INTRODUCTION & RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research comprises "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to

increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society,
and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications.”

Marketing research is "the process or set of processes that links the producers,
customers, and end users to the marketer through information which is used to identify
and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate
marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of
marketing as a process. It is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of
qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and
services. The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing
elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.

Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the

processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences,
or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and
society. Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the
customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown
that consumer behavior is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field.

Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to promote or sell something;

usually a business's product or service. Advertising is to promote the sales of a product
or service and also to reach masses to inform about the product attributes. It is an
effective way of communicating the value of a product or service with large exposure
to target consumer. It uses different types of appeals to connect to consumers spread
across the globe. Virtually any medium can be used for advertising. Commercial
advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components,
printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile
telephone screens, shopping carts, web popup, skywriting, bus stop benches, human
billboards and forehead advertising, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of
buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes, in-flight advertisements on seatback
tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens,
musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers,

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doors of bathroom stalls, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles, the
opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets
and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their
message through a medium is advertising

1. Television – This is the most common mode of advertisement. As we have discussed

earlier in the article, substitutes are used to portray the concerned product.
Advertisements of beverages are significant example of these.

2. Online advertising- This has become one of the widest medium for use after the boom
of technology and internet globally. Companies can find easy audiences here which fall
in the potential target segments. This medium also has advantages of low costs and
more target customer’s effective reach. Beverage Companies promote their products
extensively through this medium be it social networking platforms or community
forums.

3. Billboard Advertising- In the outdoor world far from the silver screen of moving
images and sound, billboards are used for these types of advertisements. For the brand
to choose this way, they need to create strong brand identification among consumers.
Generally the name of the brand along with the image from the TVC or the message
are used which creates the immediate recall among the consumers for the brand
products if they are exposed to it earlier in one form or the other.

4. Sponsorship of live events/shows/fests- Companies partner with music concerts,

liveshows, college fests etc. for sponsorship to give their brands the much needed
visibility. Generally beverage is perceived as a youth oriented product with that group
forming a large part of its customer base. These types of shows, concerts etc. are much
more attractive to youth and are created keeping their interests in mind. Tapping on that
factor, companies sync their name with these types of programs to give them the benefit
of popularity or fame of the product it associates with.
After implementation of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act - 1999, new
advertising appeal used by most liquor companies circumvented the ban by what is
called surrogate advertising. Literally Surrogate Advertising means using the Brand

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Image of one product (i.e. legally Allowed-to-Promote), the companies attempt to

promote another product (i.e. legally Banned-to-Promote).
There are a numerous reasons for companies to restore themselves to such
advertisements. One of the most common among them is to circumvent a prohibition
by law in several countries on direct advertisements of particular products besides its
unhealthy.

Hence different techniques used to promote such brands might include, endorsing their
products using public service announcements, advertising well established brand
embedding such surrogate products or duplicating the brand image of one product
extensively to promote another product of the same brand or if not the case, endorsing
themselves as discharging some social obligation towards the society (Ex: Officers
Choice – Alcohol). Whereas the primary objective of the companies behind such
prohibition is to compensate the losses occurred due to such prohibition.
In September 1999, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry imposed a ban on airing
of Liquor & Tobacco advertisements on television. The ban shook the Liquor &
Tobacco Industry as television is one of the main media’s of communication, and any
kind of ban would affect them adversely. The ban would have affected the new entrants
more than the existing established players. The Liquor & Tobacco majors were working
overtime to find a solution to the crises that they were facing. They found there
solution in what is today better known as Surrogate Advertising. According to
the dictionary, Surrogate means an alternative, or a back up, or a substitute. Surrogate
Advertising has been defined by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry as an
advertisement of a product other than liquor or tobacco, when that product is actually
being manufactured by a liquor/tobacco company in substantial quantity.
Thef u n c t i o n o f s u r r o g a t e a d v e r t i s i n g i s m o r e o f r e i n f o r c i n g b r a n d
r e c a l l , r a t h e r t h a n a n increase in the sales of the company. Soon there were
advertisements from liquor companies, which had the same brand name, but a
different product was being advertised. Advertisements of mineral water,
soda, darts, apple juice etc became common, and had become the drivers of
the brands whose brand name they carried. T o b a c c o c o m p a n i e s n o t t o b e
l e f t b e h i n d c a m e u p w i t h t h e r e o w n s e t o f s u r r o g a t e advertisements.
One of the companies started with its own chain of lifestyle stores, while another
company instituted its own bravery awards. On the one side we had the

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government who wanted to make sure that there were no liquor and tobacco
advertisements on the television, and on the other side we had the liquor
and tobacco companies who wanted to continue with television as a medium
of c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d t o a c h i e v e t h e u l t i m a t e g o a l o f i n c r e a s e i n
s a l e s . T h i s b a t t l e o f interest of both the sides is what fascinates me to choose
Surrogate Advertising as a topic for doing my dissertation.

Research is the scholarly or scientific practice of gathering existing or new information

in order to enhance one's knowledge of a specific area. Research has many categories,
from medicine to literature.
"Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the
marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing
opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor
marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.
Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs
the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection
process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications."- American
Marketing Association (AMA) - Official Definition of Marketing Research.
We identify or define the marketing research problem or opportunity and then
determine what information is needed to investigate it, and inferences are drawn.
Finally, the findings, implications and recommendations are provided in a format that
allows the information to be used for management decision making and to be acted
upon directly. It should be emphasized that marketing research is conducted to assist
management in decision making and is not: a means or an end in itself. Thus research
replaces intuitive business decision by more logical and scientific decisions.

INDIAN MARKETING & ADVERTISING SCENARIO

The Indian marketing & advertising sector have shown a tremendous growth since the
early 90’s with several progressive plans implemented by the Indian government. The
government then decided to open the Indian market for foreign investors and allowed
foreign equity. That paved the way for the opening the floodgates of the boom in these
sectors which is still shining high. Marketing & advertising (M&A) are the tools which

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can be used by an organization to relate itself to its target audience at a large scale. The
'Grand Old Man' of Indian advertising’,
R.K.Swamy, was instrumental in bringing advertising to the Indian map at the age of
50.

Several big names such as Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Mudra have established large
business houses and have made a name for them in this large growing M&A market.
There are several benefits attached with the promotion of a company using the medium
of marketing & advertising. It is economical, easy-to-use, appeals to a large public
group and it provides the company an opportunity to be on a more interactive and more
informative platform. The prospective customers can get the required information and
also purchase the products of the company by using credit cards or pay-pal (online
payment). This has proved to be beneficial for both the companies and the customers
as that helps in the growth of the market overall and ensures availability of right
products at the right time and that too economical.

Many of the Indian M&A companies are earning their deserved name and fame by
being conferred with the honor of market-leaders and several others are on an emulating
spree to achieve the feat of their peers. Lowe India was recently conferred at the recently
concluded Asian Advertising Awards by Media Magazine Awards. Ogilvy & Mather
recently won the “Pink slip” recognition by the Times Of India Group for its unmatched
work skills.
The current growth of 18-20 per cent in M&A is among one of the highest among
various industries in India. Nowadays famed global agencies are getting attracted
towards the growing Indian market and the Indian economy is slowly but steadily
opening its doors to World market capitalism. The 10000-crore M&A industry accounts
for about 33 percent of the total industry profits in the Asia-Pacific belt. The recent
NASSCOM-McKinsey report indicated that India is believed to build a $17-billion
web-based Industry by the end of 2008.

Outdoor Advertising in India is one of the most opted modes of brand promotion. Indian
Outdoor advertising industry comprises of a major share in the overall advertising
industry. Outdoor Advertising avenues such a billboard ads, kiosks ads,
airport/metro/mall ads are popularly adopted by brand owners. Billboard advertising is

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one of the most widely adopted forms of outdoor advertising. One can see billboard ads
almost anywhere in the city- at the traffic point, at the metro stations, at the shopping
malls, at the roadsides, at the highway etc. Until the launch
of some technologically enhanced tools of outdoor advertising, Indian outdoor
advertising was synonymous to billboard and poster advertising. Billboard ads have
been effectively used by brand owners and advertisers on a larger scale.

With digital technology, Indian Outdoor Advertising has seen a drastic change.
Billboard ads are even digitalized in contemporary outdoor advertising, thereby
providing a richer impact on target groups about the various endorsed brands. The rising
numbers of shopping malls again provide lucrative advertising opportunities to brand
owners who want to advertise their brands through the rich and interactive mall media.
Mall culture is spreading at each and every nook and corner of the country, thereby
providing brand owners striking opportunities to popularize and position
their brands amongst target groups. Airport Advertising, another popular avenue of
outdoor advertising is also gaining much acclamation as one of the most effective
avenues of brand promotion. Airport ads are considered exclusive because of the rich
ambience as well as the ‘state-of-art advertising mediums’ used by brand owners to
launch their promotion campaigns. Airport ads target rich people/decision makers who
can easily spend for the advertised brands. Hence, various posh brand ads are launched
through airport media with a targeted impact on those rich customers. The growing
numbers of airports in the country further provide brand owners exclusive brand
advertising opportunities through airport media in the near future.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To explain the concept of surrogate advertisements.
2. To study the consumers' awareness towards surrogate advertisements.
3. To evaluate the influence of surrogate advertisement on consumers; buying decision.
4. To understand the consumer perception towards surrogate advertisements and its
products.

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1.2 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

This research study is significant as it enables to find the people's perception of
surrogate advertisements and their impact on customer’s buying decision is analyzed.
It helps companies to know the customer views and make appropriate changes in their
strategies to reach out to customers in a better way.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study was conducted in Mumbai city for primary data collection. It is based on the
responses collected from customers. The study is undertaken to understand the concept
of surrogate advertising and its influence on consumer buying behavior.

1.4 RESEARCH DESIGN

Exploratory research design has been used for the project. The main purpose of using
this design is for getting a solution to a problem for more precise
investigation. The major emphasis in such studies is on the discovery of
ideas and insights. The research design must be must be flexible enough to
provide opportunity for considering different aspects of a problem under
study.T h e d e s i g n o f e x p l o r a t o r y s t u d i e s i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y g r e a t f l
e x i b i l i t y a n d a d - h o c versatility. The researcher is involved in investigating an
area or subject about which he or she has yet to gain a proper knowledge about the
subject. This type of study is conducted in the following situations:
1. To get solution to a problem for the further investigating.
2. To determine the priority for further research
3. To gather data about the practical problems of carrying out research on
particular problem statements.
4. To increase the analyst’s interest in the problems to explain and understand basic
concepts.

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1.5 DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

The objective of descriptive research is to describe the characteristics of various
aspects, such as the market potential for a product/company or the demographics and
attitudes of consumers who buy the product with the help of primary data collected

1.6 DATA COLLECTION

The goal for all data collection is to capture quality evidence that then translates to rich
data analysis and allows the building of a convincing and credible answer to questions
that have been posed.

1.7 SURVEY

Survey was conducted randomly among Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter user
community, by sending questionnaire through online to some people and also by
physical survey has been done to collect the individual opinion from the respondents.

1.8 SAMPLING

Non probability sampling technique is used to collect the opinion from the online
respondents. The total population is social networking user community, but to collect
the effective data the sampling is constrained to the target population like young adults,
graduates within the age of 16 years to 30 years. The sampling size is more than 50.

1.9 PRIMARY DATA

Primary data was collected from various people and their opinion and information for
the specific purposes of study helped to run the analysis. In essence, the questions asked
were tailored to elicit the data that will help for study. The data was collected through
questionnaire to understand their experience and preference towards their loyal
company.

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1.10 SECONDARY DATA

To make primary data collection more specific, secondary data will help to make it
more useful. It helps to improve the understanding of the problem. Secondary data was
collected from various sources such as different business websites and published
papers.

1.11 CONTENT ANALYSIS

In content analysis, the following four popular social networking sites were selected to
find the effective brand communication among its users (Facebook, Whatsapp,
Instagram, Twitter).

1.12 PARAMETERS & UNITS OF ANALYSIS

1. Target group: category of audience visiting these sites.

2. Types of advertisements: what are the types of brand communication followed by

them?

3. Ads placement: how do these sites place their ad in their pages?

4. Communication strategy: kinds of brand promotion used by them.

5. Visual appealing factors: regarding the appearance of these advertising.

6. User Interaction: kinds of participation with the brand.

7. Accessibility: how legibly they present themselves.

8. User interest: the forms of expectations from users in these sites.

9. Customization: the factors that the users could create by themselves.

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1.13 HYPOTHESIS
• Hypothesis testing can be used to determine whether a statement about
the value of a population parameter should or should not be rejected
• The Null Hypothesis denoted by H0 , is a tentative assumption about a
population parameter.
• The Alternative Hypothesis denoted by H1, is the opposite of what is
stated in the null Hypothesis.

1. “H0: There is no requirement of such kind of surrogate advertisements.”

“H1: There is requirement of such kind of surrogate advertisements.”

2. H0: Surrogate Advertisements are Ethical.”

H1: Surrogate Advertisements are Unethical.”

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CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

The basic question that needs to be answered is whether advertising make any material
impact in the sales of alcohol or tobacco products. Kent M. Lancaster and Alyse R.
Lancaster disregard that there is any difference in sales of tobacco and alcohol related
products with or without advertising. They examined most of the published evidence
worldwide on the effects of overall advertising and of advertising bans on aggregate
demand of cigarette and tobacco products. Based on their exhaustive research they
argued that partial bans on advertising are likely to have a very little or no impact on
the consumption of such products, the reason being a complete ban in advertising of
such products itself did not had any impact on sales or aggregate demand of these
products.
Surrogate advertising is advertising which embeds a brand or product message inside
an advertisement which is ostensibly for another brand or product. For example, a
cigarette company might issue public service announcements relating to a topic such as
lung cancer, using the company's logo or distinctive brand colors in the ads so that
people are exposed to the company's branding without seeing an explicit ad for the
company's product. The company would justify the advertisement by claiming that it's
an example of social responsibility. There are a number of reasons for companies to use
surrogate advertising. One of the most common reasons is to circumvent a ban on direct
advertisements of particular products. Many nations have laws restricting alcohol and
tobacco advertising, for example, so companies use surrogate advertising to market
their products. Techniques used might include advertising another product with the
same brand name, sponsoring community events, issuing public service
announcements, or sponsoring sports teams. All of these activities technically do not
violate the ban on direct advertising, but they still get consumers familiar with the
company's branding.
Surrogate advertising may also be used when companies want to cultivate an image of
social responsibility. For example, many health advocates have criticized
advertisements for sweet treats aired during children's cartoons. A company might pull
outright advertising during these time slots and instead air a series of public service
announcements about eating a balanced diet, with the announcements coincidentally
bearing the company's branding.

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Pharmaceuticals are another product with advertising restrictions. Historically,

pharmaceutical companies were not allowed to advertise prescription medications at
all. Once this regulation was relaxed, some restrictions were left in place. Using
surrogate advertising allows companies to get around regulations. For instance, the
manufacturer of an asthma medication might sponsor informational commercials about
managing asthma, with the medication branding scattered throughout the advertisement
to get consumers used to the brand and to imply that the
medication plays an important role in managing asthma.

Dr. S. G. Khawas Patil [Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Nanded] and Laxmikant S.

Hurne [Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Nanded] in their study titled " Surrogate
Advertising : A Successful Marketing Strategy for Liquor, Whisky products" conducted
to know the effectiveness of surrogate advertisements, whether the products shown in
advertisement are sold or not and customers awareness about surrogate advertisements,
concluded that maximum respondents can tell intention behind surrogate
advertisements, i.e, to advertise liquor, whisky products. It means surrogate
advertisements are correctly targeting their customers. Surrogate advertisement is a
successful strategy because maximum respondents are changing their purchase
decision. It is observed that, customers and manufacturers are not interested in surrogate
products, because we can’t see such products in a number as compared to whisky.
Shortly, we can say, these advertisements are complying with legal aspects and
advertising the correct product. So, Surrogate advertisements are successful strategy for
marketing of whisky, liquor products.

Ms Kirti Singh Dahiya and Ms Kirti Miglani started their research study "Emergence
of surrogate advertisement" to check whether surrogate advertisements provide high
brand recall or not, to find whether the products shown in advertisements are sold or
not and study whether surrogate advertisements appeal the customer for the hidden
product directly, found that Surrogate advertisements are only successful in creating
brand recall of the hidden product in the advertisement. People do not get much
influenced by these products advertisements while making their purchase, their
purchase decision are mainly influenced by their financial status. Another major finding
is that these products make people addicted to the products; people cannot resist

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themselves from consuming these products so in this scenario the role of advertising
whether surrogate or direct is reduced at minimum.

Pradeep S. Mehta in his article "surrogate advertising- needed a spirited attack" stated
that according to a market survey in 2001 revealed that advertising has a direct influence
on the consumption habits of 431 million people in India and an indirect impact on 275
million `aspirants' from the lower income group. Considering this and realizing that
nearly 50 per cent of the television owners have access to cable channels, there is no
doubt that the hidden call for alcohol consumption behind the surrogate advertisements
is not escaping the eyes of viewers in the world's fourth highest liquor-consuming
country. The very purpose of banning liquor advertisements is defeated by surrogate
advertising. The companies whose products are subjected to the prohibition are
following a different way of promoting their products like `old wine‘ in a `new bottle,‘
or with a soft-drink label somehow they are duplicating the image of well established
brand.

Chander and Sharma in 2006, tried to study the perception of people towards
surrogate advertising by using a statistical tool factor analysis. The results of their
research were surprising as they found out that the in general, the perceptions that
govern the attitude of people towards these advertisements is much on the negative side
rather than being on the positive side. They neither liked the advertisements nor the
favored them. A large proportion of the respondents felt that surrogate advertising is
anti social as it tries to promote the product that is generally considered as harmful for
the society, it promotes wrong impressions and tries to fool the customer insulting
customer intelligence, leads to moral degradation and is deceptive. However a few
respondents took surrogate advertisements as a way of fair practice, entertaining and
associated it with modern life style. A set of respondents were completely unaware of
the phenomena of surrogate advertising while a few others were confused about the
same. This research led to the conclusion that whatsoever may be the positive
perceptions revealed, still a lot of people perceived surrogate advertising as negative,
unethical and immoral.

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Sharma, Rishi Raj; Chander, Subhash in their research study "Consumer

Psychographics and Surrogate Advertising: An Application of Multiple Discriminant
Analysis" stated that When consumers look at the surrogate advertisements, they
associate these with banned products. The study concludes that surrogate advertising is
not perceived positively by the various sections of the society. The ethical perception
of the targeted consumers affect the acceptability of surrogate advertisements and
hence, the attitude of the consumers towards it, with majority of these consumers
considering it as immoral and unethical. The advertisers need to modify and redesign
their advertising strategies in accordance to the consumer psychographics, so that they
can find a way out which is more ethical and positive for the society or their target
market rather than resorting to surrogate advertising.

Dr.Abhijeet Agashe, Ms.Harleen Vij in their article "Ethical Issues in Surrogate

Advertisement & its Impact on Brand Building" indicated that Direct marketing of
surrogate products are totally unethical and hence been prohibited by the government.
But it‘s the companies are now following the newest trend called the surrogate
advertisements‘i.e., marketing unethical products ethically. The research studied the
ethical issues involved in surrogate advertisement and its effect on brand image.

Varalakshmi.T in her study " An empirical study on surrogate advertisements:

pioneering trend" concluded that Pros & Cons of surrogate advertising are just like a
two sides of a coin. The trend followed by such ads could prove to be boon for big and
established players as they result in higher brand recall value, thereby helping them to
push their banned products further. At the same time, smaller companies and new
entrants would find it difficult to establish themselves in the changed scenario. Though
this upcoming trend is not healthy for the young consumers & others in the interest of
the health of the community; Surrogate ads have proved themselves a strapping&
successful marketing strategy for the forbidden goods today. Surrogate marketing at
best fetch huge profit to the marketers, but leads customer to the water! Hence it‘s left
to the customers whether to accept this or not.

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A study conducted by Mohan et al. (1977), among Delhi University students

indicated that the extent of drug abuse is almost one third (32.2%) of the student
population. It was also recorded that 81.3 percent of abusers used alcohol and tobacco.
The prevalence of drug abuse among male students was two and a half times more than
that among the female students, even though drinking and smoking are particularly
viewed as taboo for women.

A study by Muttagi (1978) among college students in Bombay revealed that of the
42 percent of abusers, nearly 34 percent were abusing socially acceptable drugs, like
alcohol (14.33), tobacco (13.35%) and pain killers (6.32%). It was also found that 8
percent is for all the other hard drugs taken together. The study revealed that the use of
tobacco and alcohol is rather high among males, while painkillers were the most
popular drug among the females. The study revealed that drug abusers were largely
found living in lodgings or hostels as incidences of drug abuse was much higher among
hostellers, though to a small degree it was found among students living with parents.

Savitri (1985) observed various student groups in Tamil Nadu to find out the
psychological factors relating to drug addiction during the 1979-1983 periods and found
that the students of non-professional colleges were more into drug use than others. She
related this phenomenon to the finding that they have more leisure hours and that they
did not use them any better way. Parental attitudes were also greatly responsible for the
rise in the number of addicts. A majority of the addicts were found to have hailed from
families having problems. It was observed that 35 percent of the students used
amphetamines due to anxiety during examination.

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CHAPTER 3 : SURROGATE ADVERTISING

3.1 SURROGATE ADVERTISING: DEFINITION

The term 'surrogate' is defined a 'substitute' i.e. anything which takes place of other. It
can be a person, human, product etc. In case of surrogate advertising, a product is used
to advertise a certain different product. Especially products (for which direct
advertising on mass media is prohibited by the laws of land of most countries) are
advertised with use of substitutes like mineral water, soda, Mega cricket team clubs,
friend clubs or music CDs.
Advertising takes various shapes with level of surrogate advertisements varying from
country to country, people to people and product to product. In certain regions of the
globe, open advertisements of these products are allowed while some counterparts
imposing strict restrictions on them. The basic intention of these types of
advertisements is mainly to popularize the brand and create a slot of consideration in
the potential consumer’s minds.

3.2 ORIGIN OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING

It is said that birth of surrogate advertising happened in Britain, where housewives
started protesting against liquor advertisements which provoked their husbands. The
protest rose to a level where liquor advertising had to be banned and brand owners
seeing no way out decided to promote fruit juices and soda under the brand name; the
concept later emerged as surrogate advertisements.
"Surrogate advertising is a reflection of the hypocritical society that we live in. We
consider some products good enough to be sold but not good enough to be advertised.
A marketer has to sell his product, and will find means to promote it. I don't blame
him."
- Pushpinder Singh, Senior Creative Director (O & M)
A surrogate advertisements is one in which a different product is promoted using an
already established brand name. Such advertisements or sponsorships help in contribute
to brand recall. The different product shown in the advertisement is called the
“Surrogate.” It could either resemble the original product or could be a different product
altogether, but using the established brand of the original product. This type of
advertising uses a product of a fairly close category, as: club soda, mineral water in case
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of alcohol, or products of a completely different category (for example, music CD's or

playing cards) 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).The sponsoring of sports/cultural/leisure events and activities also falls under
the purview of surrogate advertising.

3.3 INDIAN SCENARIO

The use of surrogate advertising in India can be traced back to 1995 when the Cable
Television Act 1995 was enforced which stated - "No advertisement shall be permitted
which promotes directly or indirectly, production, sale or consumption of cigarettes,
tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants". This ban on advertising
of such products leads to the emergence of surrogate advertising in India in a big way.
Indian market was flooded by surrogate products of established brands of the so called
'negative products' and their promotions.
By August 2002, the I&B Ministry had banned 12 advertisements and leading satellite
TV channels including Zee, Sony, STAR and AajTak were issued show cause notices
to explain their rationale behind carrying surrogate liquor advertisements. Product
advertising for liquor and cigarette companies is banned in the country since 1995 by
Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act. According to Rule 7 (2) of the Act, no
broadcaster is permitted to show advertisement which promotes directly or indirectly
promotion, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor
or other intoxicants, infant milk substitution, feeding bottle or infant food. This ban is
now likely to be extended to advertising of extended brands.
In June 2002, the Indian Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry served notices
to leading television broadcasters to ban the telecast of two surrogate ads of liquor
brands McDowell No.1 and Gilbey’s Green Label. The Ministry also put some other
brands --- Smirnoff Vodka, Hayward’s 5000, Royal Challenge Whiskey and kingfisher
beer on a “watch list.” A market survey in 2001 revealed that advertising has a direct
influence on the consumption habits of 431 million people in India and an indirect
impact on 275 million `aspirants' from the lower income group. Considering this and
realizing that nearly 50 per cent of the television owners have access to cable channels,

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there is no doubt that the hidden call for alcohol consumption behind the surrogate
advertisements is not escaping the eyes of viewers in the world's fourth highest liquor-
consuming country. The very purpose of banning liquor advertisements is defeated by
surrogate advertising. Answering to the notices, Zee and STAR stopped telecasting the
advertisements, followed soon by AajTak and Sony.
In addition, the I&B Ministry hired a private monitoring agency to keep a watch on all
the advertisements for violation of the Act. These developments led to heated debates
over the issue of surrogate advertising by liquor companies being allowed on national
media. Though the companies involved came out strongly against the I&B Ministry’s
decision, they seemed to have no other choice, given the highly regulated nature of the
liquor business.
Liquor producers spent heavily on advertising on the electronic media, particularly TV.
Though the broadcasters were bound by the 30 yrs old advertising code, which stated
that “No advertisements shall be permitted which relates to or promotes cigarettes and
tobacco products, liquor, wines and other intoxicants,” the telecast of such product
continued blatantly over the years. More over the satellite channels garnered about 50%
of their revenue from liquor and cigarettes advertisements. In the peak seasoned it gets
almost doubled. Due to the ban, liquor companies focused more on promotions for
brand building. They started sponsoring events that projected the “glamour” of the
brands, like track racing, car rallies etc. for instance Shaw Wallace Co. one of the
leading liquor companies in India, conducted the Royal Challenge Invitation Golf
tournament, which became an annual event. Some companies also promoted their
product through corporate advertising, distributing free gifts like Caps and T- Shirts
with the brand name and using glow-signs outside the retail outlets.
The ban on advertising of alcohol beverage products has severely handicapped
communication with consumers. The industry is naturally compelled to make the best
use of the channels and media of communications still open to it. Companies with liquor
brands are not advertising liquor products; instead they have extended the equity of
their brands into other fields. Over a period of time these products have become
independent businesses for companies. However as the TV was the most effective
medium of advertising, surrogate advertising on TV became popular. The liquor
producers seemed to have ensured that the ban was only on the paper. In the mean time,
some producers entered new segments under the liquor brand or advertised these
products under liquor brand. Most of the liquor producers entered into packaged water

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segment, such as Kingfisher Mineral water. McDowell used surrogate advertising by

using its mineral water and soda brands, which generated additional revenues for the
company. In the early 2001, SWC started marketing its range of golf accessories under
the liquor brand Royal Challenge. It also announced that India’s flagship Golfing Event
– the Indian open would be sponsored by the company till 2006.

McDowell’s No.l Platinum:

Indian Cricket Team skipper MS Dhoni advertises for the surrogate product soda and
asserts it as “The No. 1 Spirit of Leadership”

The surrogate advertisements from liquor companies intensified further through

sponsorships of movies, music shows, and other programs and attracting youth. For
instance, Seagram’s Royal Stag was promoted by sponsoring movie related activities
and Indian pop music using the banner Royal stag Mega Movies and Royal stag Mega
Music. In late 2001, the broadcasters began airing socially responsible advertisements
sponsored by liquor companies. By early 2002, surrogate advertising of liquor brands
had intensified like never before on satellite TV channels. These advertisements
attracted criticism from various people. There were numerous other advertisements
selling music cassettes, CDs, water, clothing, fashion accessories and sports goods,
many of them accused of being sexually provocative and offensive.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has clarified that as per its code,
the mere use of a brand name or company name that may also be applied to a product
whose advertising is restricted or prohibited is not reason to find the advertisement
objectionable provided the advertisement is not objectionable and the product is

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produced and distributed in reasonable quantities and the objectionable advertisement

does not contain direct or indirect cues for the product that which is not allowed to be
advertised. However the analyst opined that the ban could turn out to be advantages for
the domestic players.
In March 2001, as per the commitment to the WTO agreement, MNCs would have an
unrestricted license to sell their products. After the ban, these MNCs would not have
access to the quickest and most effective form of advertising . Some analyst argued that
the ban would not affect the established domestic players severely. It would only affect
the new launches and new brand building of these companies. The ban was also
expected to improve the margins for these players. The latest television ad for “AC
Black Apple Juice” epitomizes so many things that are wrong with surrogate
advertising in India.
Most of the surrogate advertising is done pretty blatantly with the “harmless” product
being nothing more than a front for advertising the “harmful” brand. So you have
various liquor/cigarette manufacturers resorting to ingenuous ways to peddle their
wares. Of course there are a very few brands which start off as a surrogate brand, but
over a period of time actually become full-fledged brands in themselves. The “Wills
Sport” clothing line from the manufacturers of “Wills” cigarettes is one of those rare
cases. But on the whole, surrogate advertising is dedicated towards using an
insignificant, “harmless” product to increase/maintain awareness for their primary
“harmful” brand. And that’s not an easy task. For instance, how do you portray the
essence of a whiskey or vodka or a cigarette using a bottle of bottled water or a pack of
apple juice? Similarly "HUM tum or mera Bagpiper". This Bagpiper club soda
advertisement, featuring cine celebrities, is similar to the earlier one for Bagpiper
whisky. The advertisement comes with the same music and punch line as the one for
the popular liquor brand telecast before the ban on liquor advertisements.

3.4 THE CORPORATE STANDPOINT

The industry segment has its own standpoint in defense. The liquor lobby claims that
everything is in accordance to the Government regulations. "If a brand has equity, why
shouldn't it be allowed to advertise? Also, brand extension is an industry practice
adopted by different product categories," comments Alok Gupta of UB group. "When
we advertise our products, we follow all the guidelines," declares president, sales &

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marketing, RadicoKhaitan. They clarify that they have stopped showing liquor
advertisements and they are free to use the brand name for any other products. Even the
Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverages Companies (CIABC) advertising code
maintains that advertisement of products (real brand extensions) by the liquor industry
must be allowed.
From a layman's point of view, their claims seem to be justified. But this is a clear
example of taking advantage of the loopholes. There is a point to ponder. When they
have stopped showing liquor advertisements, why the same brand name and logo is
used to promote products like cassettes & CDs or mineral water? They could have
assigned different brand names. It seems they have a hidden agenda of highlighting the
liquor or tobacco brand.
A similar tussle over the issue of surrogate advertisements in politics was raised in April
2004 on the eve of Lok Sabha elections. Complaints of slanderous and offensive
advertisements were raised by two major political parties - BJP and Congress against
each other. The issue became so serious that the Supreme Court had to interfere in this
affair. Finally on 13 April 2004, the Court gave a verdict to curb smear advertisements
on electronic media. By appointing Election Commission as referee, the court has tried
to put an end to surrogate advertising in politics.

According to the Cable Act under the ministry of information and broadcasting,- "no
broadcaster is permitted to show an advertisement which promotes directly or
indirectly, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or
other intoxicants…"
Now a new clause has been added under the act stating that "any advertisement for a
product that uses a brand name which is also used for cigarette, tobacco product, wine,
alcohol, liquor or any other intoxicant will not be permitted". Finally, in April 2005, the
ministry resorted to a ban on surrogate advertisements of liquor and tobacco products
on television.
After this directive, the surrogate advertisements are seldom shown on television. Now
the companies will have to reframe their policies. But who will take care of print and
outdoor media is not certain.
According to ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India), surrogate advertisements
are harmful. Now it will be up to the ASCI to take up the matter with the respective
companies.

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3.5 SURROGATE ADVERTISING: EMERGING TREND

A recent series of hoardings led me to delve into a very unique trend specific to Indian
advertising – Surrogate advertising… a trend which is fast catching up and has suddenly
attracted a lot of innovative and creative brains around the country.
Reason? On one hand, the govt cannot allow public advertising of liquor companies.
But ironically, liquor and cigarette sales are the biggest revenue generators in terms
of taxes and duties on these items. That’s why an overt acceptance of the marketing in
these sectors is not legally acceptable. This has led to one of the biggest ironies of the
country – Sales of these items are not banned, yet advertising on the same has strictly
been prohibited!
Talking about the market size and the different segments would not be pertinent to the
discussion (for the records, it is more than 100 million cases in India!). But what is the
significance of this trend vis-à-vis the entry points for new players and sustainability of
existing ones?
Multinationals which would like to explore the Indian markets find the double-faced
attitude of the government as an impediment to their ventures. Since no policy has been
formalized in this regard, foreign companies continue to be skeptical about their entry.
Domestically, it has led to innovative ways and methods of spending on different media
for Advertising from the companies, where companies do more of a brand building
exercise than direct advertising. Be it promotions for brand building, or sponsoring
events that can be mapped with the “showbiz” and “glamour” of the brand, advertisers
don’t leave many avenues to enhance their visibility.
The rule says “Advertisements which lead to sale, consumption and promotion of liquor
should not be allowed.” So, in Surrogate Marketing, a product which is different from
the main product is advertised, and has the same brand name as the main product. The
product is called as “surrogate” and advertising through this channel is called
“Surrogate Advertising”!
It may include CDs, water, clothing, Apple juice, fashion accessories, sports goods or
even events sponsoring!
These gimmicks, in turn, help the consumers build a strong equity of the parent brand,
and with the enhanced visibility, the equity of the brand would definitely become
higher! Liquor companies were forced to look at innovative ways of building their

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brands. With an objective of enhancing brand recall, companies either engage into
“surrogate advertising” or displaying “socially responsible messages”.
Again, out of the two viable options for Advertising, Surrogate Advertising has been
surrounded by controversies and legalities for a long time. There is no clear policy from
the government for obvious reasons and companies do not want to risk their investments
on Ads, which might not be screened after a while.
So, a safer choice available where companies can exercise their grey cells is advertising
“socially responsible” messages. Take a look at these billboards which I noticed on a
private flyover a few days back. There is also another print ad in continuation with the
Johnnie Walker billboard.

Must say, this is one of the best elements of innovation that I have seen so far. Though
it would be too premature to attribute this to the industry per se, it has become
imperative for the companies to change their line of thought completely, to work around
the system. What are the other practices companies are looking at?
(a) Companies are getting involved in Sponsorships of events and have launched their
own awards for bravery or lifetime achievements!
(b) Internet advertising has become a lucrative area which has so far not been delved
into. The medium holds a lot of potential to enhance visibility, and companies have
lately realized that.

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(c) Catchy jingles have become the norm of the day to ensure that their brands have a
high brand recall.
(d) With restrictions in other marketing elements – in terms of pricing and distribution,
companies have ventured into another important element – Packaging. Innovative
packaging makes their brands stand out of the clutter, and most of the Multinationals
are revisiting this element in their brand portfolio.

Though the industry is not healthy for the young consumers, some processes and laws
need to be formalized and established in the system. Else, innovative workarounds and
arm-twisting of laws would be the norm of the day for the entire liquor
industry!

3.6 SURROGATE AD: ROLE IN CONSUMER BUYING DECISION

Generally advertisements which showcase the product in a different prospective and
highlights the attributes as never been seen before retain the customer share of mind.
But there is catch in the case of surrogate advertisements. Here the product is prohibited
to be shown- its attributes or features to be portrayed are near to impossible. Their role
in impacting the consumer buying decision should be subsequently limited but
surprisingly, it is found that they have a higher role in impacting consumer purchase
decisions as compared to general products’ advertisement owing largely to viewer’s
interest and sense of capturing the message. This fact is also supported by numbers. It
is seen that company investing heavily in surrogate advertisements are witnessing more
sales rates as compared to those investing none or comparatively less. You will be
surprised to know advertising budget of beverage companies stretches in the ranges of
hundreds of millions of dollars per annum. The only reason understood of investing
such high sums is the fact of the recovery through this in the coming future. After all
it’s a 60000 crore plus revenue generating market. Surrogate marketing is not a bad
way of marketing or illegal marketing. It is just the more creative way if marketing that
shows the product even without revealing it. Opportunities are hidden everywhere just
like the products in surrogate advertisements.

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3.7 PROS AND CONS OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING

ADVANTAGES
1) Companies have to spend substantial amount of money for marketing their
products. Surrogate advertising to a great extent saves companies from huge
expenditure and thus increase the profit margins.
2) Surrogate advertising is very much beneficial for domestic players, it not only
limits the entry of various MNC’s but also creates problem for new entrants in
brand building.
3) Ban on advertisement reduces competition to a great extent.

DISADVANTAGES
1) As per ASCI, surrogate advertising is harmful; there is no logic why the
brand name of the banned product shall be used for products like
mineral water. It clearly indicates misusing the loopholes.
2) The ban severely affects the sale of banned products
3) Ban also results in loss of revenues of TV channels and other media

3.8 REGULATORY MEASURES

Surrogate advertisements are not only misleading, but also false and dishonest in many
cases. With surrogate advertising so widespread, this is the moment to tackle the
problem head-on.
There should be stringent regulatory measures to curb the practice, such as:
1. Making transparent laws banning surrogate advertisements for different product
under a single brand name, by amending the Trade Marks Act, for instance.

2. Providing teeth to the Advertising Standards Council of India to enable it take action
against false and misleading advertisements, and keep a close vigil over clever evasion
of the law.

3. Asking the electronic and print media to adhere to the advertisement codes and not
encourages surrogate advertisements.

4. Calling on the ASCI address complaints received from consumers against surrogate
advertisements and take appropriate actions immediately.

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5. Creating a consumer awareness program to help people understand the negative

impact of surrogate advertisements.

6. Adopting strict laws to penalize those companies featuring surrogate advertisements

without any real existence of the product.

7. Requiring advertising agencies to have full knowledge of the products under the same
brand for which they are promoting advertisements, and taking legal actions against
those agencies which design surrogate advertisements.

3.9 CONSUMER PSYCHOGRAPHICS AND SURROGATE

ADVERTISING
'Surrogate advertising' is one of the emerging ethical issues in advertising in India. This
is used as a strategy to advertise products like liquor or tobacco - the advertisement of
which otherwise, is banned in our country. It relates to advertising by duplicating the
brand image of one product extensively to promote another product of the same brand.
When consumers look at these advertisements, they associate these with banned
products. Hence, such products are indirectly advertised, and therefore, influence their
behaviour. There is no doubt that the hidden call for alcohol consumption behind the
surrogate advertisements is not escaping the eyes of viewers of the world's fourth
highest liquor consuming country. Hence, surrogate advertising defeats the very
purpose of banning liquor advertisements. The central issue of the ethical discussion in
the present study is regarding the attitude of targeted consumers towards the practice of
surrogate advertising vis-à-vis their psychographic profile towards advertising in
general. The psychographics of the target audience are important to be discussed since
they are the final evaluators of advertising. The study concludes that surrogate
advertising is not perceived positively by the various sections of the society. Though
there were some positive perceptions found for this practice, on the whole, the attitude
of most of the targeted consumers, i.e., the respondents were more dominating towards
the negative side for the surrogate advertising and
they consider it to be an unethical practice. The ethical perception of the targeted
consumers affect the acceptability of surrogate advertisements and hence, the attitude
of the consumers towards it, with majority of these consumers considering it as immoral
and unethical. The implications thus, are left for the advertisers to modify and redesign

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their advertising strategies in accordance to the consumer psychographics, so that they

can find a way out which is more ethical and positive for the society or their target
market rather than resorting to surrogate advertising.

Each day 55,000 children in India start using tobacco, Gutkha the chewable tobacco is
aimed at the younger generation of the country. But you may wonder how these
companies manage to reach the minds of these children when they are not allowed to
advertise these products.
After the ban the companies opened their doors to surrogate advertisement, an
advertisement has the logo or brand of another company advertised within it. Lets take
a look at this report done by a French channel on surrogate advertisements done in
India.
One of the biggest surrogate advertisement market is the film Industry Bollywood, in
2004 and 2005, 89% of all the released movies had smoking scenes in them. Below is

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a small documentary on smoking in movies, with interesting statistics on the current

scenario in India with regards to smoking.
According to research done by the Salaam Bombay Foundation, 3260 children between
the age of 12 to 17 years fro municipal and private schools were asked to fill out a self-
administered questionnaire.
When asked to recall slogans of any tobacco company or brand…
71% recalled Manikchand – Oonche log, oonchi pasand
12% recalled Goa – Yahan bhi Khilate hain, whan bhi, Goa No 1
2% recalled Sanket
0.4% recalled Shimla
15% recalled other brands

When asked to associate slogans with brands 63% could associate the slogan while 37%
could not. What kind of a message will a child get from, Oonche log, oonchi pasand
Some of the observations learnt through this research is that, Gutkha advertising has
had a deep impact on the minds of children although it has been banned since August
2002.
As children cannot easily disassociate Manikchand Water from Manikchand Gutkha,
tobacco manufacturing companies should not be allowed to use surrogate
advertisements. TV and radio are the hotspots as to where these messages are
broadcasted to the children.
Legal concern – “Blanket Ban on "Surrogate Advertising"
An advertisement unmistakably and profoundly directs one’s life. The extent to which
advertisements persuades a person depends upon its pushing publicity. The adverse
impact of advertisements of unhealthy products is a matter of concern for this hour.
Impact of tobacco, liquor, cigarettes is far alarming than we can think for one’s health.
Due to the widespread unfavorable impact of advertisement of unhealthy products,
Indian government has always struggled and strived to curb or atleast restrict rampant
advertisements of such products by appropriate legislations.
Result to the directive of Government to ban advertisements of products that are adverse
to health, the major companies of liquor & tobacco sought other ways of endorsing their
products.

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They have found an alternative path of advertising through which they can keep on
reminding the people of their liquor/tobacco brands. They have introduced various
other products with the same brand name.
The problem occurs when heavy advertising is done so that the customers do not forget
their liquor & tobacco brands, for which advertisements are banned. The advertisements
for such new products are placed under the category of "Surrogate Advertisements".
Surrogate advertising (duplicating the brand image of one product extensively to
promote another product of the same brand), has become commonplace. Their only
objective is to compensate the losses arising out of the ban on advertisements of one
particular product (i.e. liquor). The companies can always
claim that the order is being implemented and advertisements of liquor are banned, but
the objective of the Government behind imposing the ban is not fulfilled. A new weapon
of Fill-in or replacement war.

What’s surrogate about advertising?

The I&B Ministry had instructed the TV channels not to carry surrogate advertising.
This w a s i n a d d i t i o n t o t h e n e w s t h a t c i g a r e t t e p a c k e t s w o u l d n o w
h a v e t o c a r r y “ g o r y ” pictures, ostensibly to scare away smokers and thereby save
their lungs and their lives.
Let’s take the second point first. The picture of a scorpion on a cigarette packet is
probably the most ludicrous attempt at scaring anyone away. It is this propensity of the
Government to convert its feeble attempts at regulating the powerful tobacco lobby that
never ceases to amaze me. If the smokers do not die of lung cancer after merrily
continuing smoking cigarettes from packets that carry the scorpion picture, they will
surely die of laughing at these half measures. That brings us to the first point. Every so
often one reads of the “strict” rules that ban tobacco and liquor advertising. And every
so often one views advertising of CDs, cassettes, events, mineral water, stores, airlines,
awards and any other product with the brand names of major tobacco and liquor
companies on television, newspapers, magazines and on hoardings. Let’s examine the
case for and against surrogate advertising from different perspectives. The advertiser’s
perspective is fairly straightforward. If it is legal to manufacture, distribute and sell a
product, why should it be illegal to promote the sale of that product? I don’t think
anyone can answer that question convincingly. If it has been established conclusively

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that cigarette smoking kills, why is it that it is available to anyone, irrespective of his
or her age, at every street corner? And even if surrogate advertising for cigarettes is
effectively banned, what about event son satellite TV that are sponsored by tobacco and
liquor companies? Tune into the coverage of Formula 1 racing at you will see cars
racing around circuits of the world with the names and logos of tobacco and liquor
companies emblazoned on every part of the vehicle and the driver. Does this mean that
ITC cannot advertise its products in Indian events even though it is a major contributor
to the exchequer in terms of excise and duties, while Marlboro, which is smuggled
freely onto the streets of India, can subliminally implant itself in the minds of the
smoking public that watches this coverage? Assuming that tobacco companies even
have a case to advertise, one would at least ask for a level playing field. What about the
advertising agency’s point of view? I frankly don’t think they have one. They will
implement strategy for their clients, execute jobs irrespective of whether they are legal
or not and try and shore up their bottom line. If this was not the case, you would not
have surrogate advertising.
Now let’s think of the consumer. Well, as a consumer, I cannot plead that I should have
the right to do what I wish, including the consumption of tobacco in whatever form.
That would perforce mean I have the right to commit suicide. And society and statute
does not give me that right. Having got that out of the way, I would have to agree that
society in its wisdom and the law in its majesty enjoins certain restrictions on me and
my public behavior , and if I do not agree with such restrictions I have the right to
appeal against them to the judiciary or lobby for legislative change. In the meanwhile,
I am expected to be a law-abiding citizen. Sounds very simple and straight forward.
Then why is there surrogate advertising? Does it mean that those indulging in it are not
law-abiding citizens? The short answer is “yes!” Tobacco and liquor companies have
the right to knock on the doors of the judiciary and the legislature to seek redress from
rules or laws they feel are unfair or wrong. God know they have the money, legal
wherewithal and political patronage to do all of these things. If they have not been able
to do it, it means that surrogate advertising is not just legally wrong but also
unconscionable. And that is the point I want to make. Advertisers such as United
Breweries went ahead and set up an airline with a brand name, colour and logo style
that was the same as a liquor brand they owned. Advertisers like ITC went ahead and
set up a chain of lifestyle stores under the name and style of a cigarette brand they
owned. This was when there were already rules and laws in place that expressly forbade

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this. Today we have a large airline that is a legitimate business called Kingfisher. And
a large chain of lifestyles stores called Wills. An equally legitimate business. Yet, even
Vijay Mallya would not be able to tell you with a straight face that his airline was named
Kingfisher at a time when it was legal to do so. Nor would Yogi Deveshwar. And they
are both honourable men. If the Government was serious about enforcing its rules and
laws it could have put a stop to these names years ago. It was expedient to allow them
to grow into large legitimate businesses and then deem them legitimate. Now one can
say that you cannot have a product (other than the liquor brand) called Seagrams 100
Pipers. That merely locks the doors after the horses have fled. How will you decide that
a business is legitimate or not? Would Bacardi Blast cassettes and CDs be seen as
legitimate. Of course it would be. Would any of these be “right”? Certainly not. The
point to note is that there is nothing surrogate about advertising. There is something
surrogate about ethics and values and a sense of right and wrong. And so you have an
actress who was hailed as the only “man” in Bollywood endorsing a bravery award
named after a cigarette brand. And you have pious corporate social responsibility
programmes from a tobacco company that freely endorses surrogate advertising. And
you have a Member of Parliament whose intentions could definitely be construed to
point at encouraging surrogate advertising. Forget the advertising agencies. They are
too small in this game. Advertisers must decide what is right and what is wrong. And
the consumer must be the ultimate judge. Do you want to patronise the products and
services of companies who are legally correct, or really correct? That’s a choice you
have to make. The advertising is purely incidental.
Tobacco & liquor advertising does more than offer a high; it promises a sophisticated
lifestyle that stems merely from holding a cigarette or hard drink. In India, the
advertising industry has been largely self-regulated. To circumvent the regulations,
advertisers have frequently used methods such as "surrogate advertising" to promote
such products. Surrogate advertising is the promotion of a product, through indirect and
devious means. Typically, an advertiser would use the trademark/brand of a product for
which promotions are restricted/prohibited to promote a product the advertisement of
which is permitted. For instance, it is not unusual to find a brand associated with
cigarettes to be used to advertise a competition/event. The advertising of socially
harmful products such as tobacco and alcohol has been sought to be restricted by Indian
lawmakers. Such prohibitions were, however, previously limited to forms of media
such as terrestrial television and radio which were easier to regulate. With technological

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advances such as satellite television and the Internet, advertisers have been finding
ways to circumvent restrictions to achieve their goals.
SOURCE: The Economic Times (Corporate Counsel section),June 14, 2003.
The literal meaning of ‘Surrogate advertising’ is duplicating the brand image of one
product extensively to promote another product of the same brand. Advertisement, as a
popular medium of paid communication has drawn public ire time and again for moving
away from the truth and the consumers ‘right to know’ to providing false images. The
masked creative leave it to the consumers to read between the lines.
This advertisement gimmick has its genesis in U.K., where English housewives
protested against liquor advertisements as they felt that these ads were weaning their
husbands away from them and hence perceived as a threat. The liquor and the tobacco
barons not only in U.K. but also in other countries including India dealt with resistance
by advertising cocktail mixtures, fruit juices, apparel, etc. The imagery used in most of
the commercials is that which one can associate with alcohol. Apart from brand names
they assort the products with seems like machoism, scantily clad girls, dim lights,
people partying and doing merry together. In ad parlance,‘ surrogate advertising’ is a
politically correct term used to define fraudulent pieces of communication. For
example, all those playing cards, soda water bottles, apple juices, mineral water and
other product ads wesee, are actually clever promotions for liquor and cigarette brands
by the same name. Let’s take an example how it works. To explain…..a party is going
in full swing, guests are enjoying their drinks and chatting away. A gentleman finishes
his drink and hands over the empty glass to the waitress. Another lady also finishes her
drink and places the glass on the tray. On both the glasses ‘AC Black Apple Juice’ is
printed. As the waitress carries the empty glasses, the two AC Black ones knock against
each other. In the next shot a kind of mysterious force pulls the two guests, who bump
against each other. While waitress continues to carry the tray, the two glasses keep
brushing against each other…and so do the young couple. Even as the dance between
the two glasses goes on in full scale, the impact is felt in equal strength by the couple.
The glasses are taken for a wash, and are placed under the rush of tap water. Continuing
with the pattern, the young dancing partners too find themselves in pouring rain. Finally
having cleaned the glasses, the waitress keeps them for drying, placed beside each
other. The amazed guests look on as the couple also stands immobilized side by side.
The voice over says: "AC Black Apple Juice, kuch bhi ho sakta hai" (Anything is
possible). In addition, brand imagery can be communicated without reference to

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cigarettes. This is evident in the evolution of the current Four Square campaign. Some
of the Four Square campaign storefront and bus stop advertisements contain the black
and white photograph with a man holding a red square on one end and an open pack of
cigarettes on the other; others just contain the photograph with the text, "four square
the man with the smooth edge" and three red squares. The Four Square billboards,
posters, and magazine advertisements are composed solely of the photograph, the logo,
and the slogan; the only mention of cigarettes is in the statutory warning..

Surrogate Advertising - The Positive Side

When the laws of a country do not permit advertising of a certain product category, the
advertisers take the shelter of a brand extension. Advertising of alcoholic drinks in India
is not permitted. To by pass this, some manufacturers of whisky or similar products
launched brands of soda, mineral water under the same brand name as that of their
popular whisky. Hence the meaning of ‘Surrogate advertising’ is duplicating the brand
image of one product extensively to promote another product of the same brand.

3.10 POPULAR EXAMPLES OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING

Todays media is full of examples which bring out the best of surrogate advertising.
Even the event marketing of sports, fashion & music has not been spared from surrogate
advertising. The alcohol based brand sponsor sports and receives visibility via
advertising and below-the-line marketing. Brief examples along with modus operandi
have been mentioned below. Celebrity endorsements with Shatrughan Sinha for the
Bagpiper soda to the leading stars such as Akshay Kumar for the
Red & White Bravery Awards while Johnny Walker Scotch Whisky promotes a series
of successful stories on the T.V. channel-CNBC India through sound bytes like
Amitabh Bhachan. Event marketing has benefited sports, fashion & music. The alcohol
based brand sponsors sports and receives visibility via advertising and below-the-line
marketing. Seagram-the producer of the premium whisky Chivas Regal have been
promoting Chivas Regal Championships and Chivas Regal Invitational Golf Challenge
for corporate executives. United Breweries group been associated with formula one
racing since long through its flagship beer brand king fisher, Mc Dowell & Co. has
associated its umbrella brand McDowell with sport of derby. While the most interesting
amongst them is the Hayward’s 5000 beer, which uses dart boards as their surrogate

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product in their ads and the brand has gone one step further by associating itself with a
new sport ‘darting’ and is sponsoring national dart championships.
Wills Life Style is a chain of specialty stores providing exclusive designer collection.
At2003 Images Fashions Awards, Wills Life Style was declared ‘the most admired
exclusive retail chain of the year’. Hence the stores serve as effective brand wagon for
the cigarette brand. Another glaring example in this field is Manikchand-a major gutka
manufacturer who sponsor Manikchand - Filmfare Awards
and promotes its brand name.

WITH the Government trying to clamp down on surrogate advertising, liquor

companies seem keen to bat out the ban. Even as liquor brands have traditionally been
associated with upmarket sporting activities like golf, polo, derby and yachting,
companies are now turning towards the game of the masses - cricket. In fact, the latter
half of the current year will see liquor brands as the title sponsors of two major
cricketing events featuring India. Immediately after the triangular series at Zimbabwe
(of which Royal Stag was the associate sponsor), the India and Zimbabwe Test series
will be called the Royal Stag Cup. Till date Royal Stag has used several international
cricketers as brand endorsers. This is the first time the company has forayed into
tournament sponsorship.
Similarly, the ICC World XI Vs Australia series to be held Down Under will be called
the Johnnie Walker Super Series. According to media planners, as both the series are
being held outside India it would be difficult for the Government to blip out the liquor
brands. "Since the matches will be beamed into Indian drawing rooms live, the brands
will enjoy good visibility," they added.
Internationally beer brands such as Fosters and Lion have supported cricket in Australia
and Sri Lanka respectively. Meanwhile, Royal Stag has roped in Zimbabwean Vice-
Captain, Heath Streak as their new Royal Stag brand ambassador. Other celebrity Royal
Stag cricket endorsers include Australian Cricket captain Ricky Ponting, and India's
Harbhajan Singh. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry's efforts to ban
surrogate advertising of liquor brands has reached a naught. A few months ago, it had
sent out notices to various television channels to withdraw advertisements by liquor
companies. But within a few weeks of the notices being issued, surrogate advertising
made a comeback on television. In fact, a few liquor companies have been advertising
during the ongoing cricket series as well. Earlier, in an interaction with Government

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officials, channels were categorically told that there is a complete ban on advertising
by liquor companies. "However, exemptions could be granted on a case-by-case basis,
like the one granted to Kingfisher Airlines," they had said.
The Government is also handicapped by procedure wherein it can take action against
channels only after receipt of complaints. "The Government cannot suo motu issue
show-cause notices. It has to first receive complaints," said official sources. Liquor
companies on their part state that their advertising is self-regulated and comply with the
Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Standards Council of India code.

3.11 INSIGHT ON THE TOBBACO INDUSTRY

Some Quick facts
• Cigarettes cause about 6.35 lakh deaths in India every year.
• Two and a half thousand Indians die every day from smoking related diseases -
one every 40 seconds.
• About 33 per cent of cancer cases are attributed to tobacco consumption.
• However, cigarettes alone account for roughly 10% of excise collections.
• Tobacco trade is a major contributor to the national exchequer.

With declining markets in the West, and 50 per cent of India's population under the age
of 25, the major tobacco companies are increasingly targeting India as their new growth
market. Already, 250 million Indians use tobacco, and the market's already worth a
massive $5 billion. And they don't only smoke it: many Indians chew tobacco, mixed
with lime, spices and other substances - some of them possible carcinogens. As a result,
India has one of the world's highest rates of mouth cancer.
The Indian smoking tobacco market is dominated by the indigenous bidis in volume
terms. Bidis are stronger and cheaper than white cigarettes, and are the preferred smoke
of Indians across the country but especially in the northern regions. The bidi industry
enjoys political protection, and is not so heavily taxed, even though bidis have a higher
nicotine content. Cigarettes account for only 18.8% of domestic tobacco consumption
in India. Bidis account for 53.5%, and the balance is mainly non smoking tobacco
(NST)products. According to estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 8
lakh persons die from tobacco related diseases every year in India alone, with every
cigarette reducing the life of smokers by 5.5 minutes. The economic and health costs of

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this consumption are staggering, considering that 60 per cent of the Indian population
accesses health care by taking on loans or by selling property & assets. Volume
consumption of cigarettes declined sharply in 2001. The share of cigarettes in tobacco
consumption has been declining steadily, falling to a record low of 87.8 billion sticks
in March 2004, down from its peak at 104.2 billion sticks in March 1998. Cigarette
sales have been adversely affected by rising excise duties and legislation against public
smoking. There has been a movement in consumption patterns towards smokeless
tobacco. Retail sales of manufactured cigarettes are also being adversely affected by
contraband, the volume share of which is estimated to have risen to nearly 12% in
2002,from 1% in 1997. Traditionally, contraband is strong in the premium end, but
more recently it has also been growing in the economy price band segment.
The concept of low tar or low nicotine is not significant in India. The standard varieties
in cigarettes are Kings, Filters and Minis India’s leading tobacco manufacturer ITC
reported a 4% growth in cigarette volumes year-on-year for the period April to August
2002, compared to a decline of 9% in the same period in 2001. Its two competitors
Godfrey Philips India and VST also reported some growth in sales volume over the
same period.
Prices of cigarettes have been rising constantly, with the excise duties on cigarettes
increasing each and every year from 1998 up to 2001. Duties were left unchanged in
2002giving some stability to prices. The current view in the industry is that cigarette
sales are in decline and that the habit has become less popular with the young. There
have been increasing problems for the domestic cigarette industry. Smoking is being
gradually curbed in public places. There is growing health consciousness among the
premium cigarette smokers Growers and manufacturers realize that diversification is
the only long-term solution available to the industry. State Governments are becoming
more stringent with their regulations: smoking on railway platforms is strictly
prohibited and a number of companies are making their entire premises smoke free.

More recently
Advertisers such as United Breweries went ahead and set up an airline with a brand
name, colour and logo style that was the same as a liquor brand they owned. Advertisers
like ITC went ahead and set up a chain of lifestyle stores under the name and style of a
cigarette brand they owned.

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This was when there were already rules and laws in place that expressly forbade this.
Today we have a large airline that is a legitimate business called Kingfisher. And a
large chain of lifestyles stores called Wills. An equally legitimate business. Yet, even
Vijay Mallya would not be able to tell you with a straight face that his airline was named
Kingfisher at a time when it was legal to do so. Nor would Yogi Deveshwar. And they
are both honorable men.

If the Government was serious about enforcing its rules and laws it could have put a
stop to these names years ago. It was expedient to allow them to grow into large
legitimate businesses and then deem them legitimate. Now one can say that you cannot
have a product (other than the liquor brand)called Seagrams 100 Pipers. That merely
locks the doors after the horses have fled. How will you decide that a business is
legitimate or not? Would Bacardi Blast cassettes and CDs be seen as legitimate. Of
course it would be. Would any of these be “right”? Certainly not.

The point to note is that there is nothing surrogate about advertising. There is something
surrogate about ethics and values and a sense of right and wrong. And so you have an
actress who was hailed as the only “man” in Bollywood endorsing a bravery award
named after a cigarette brand. And you have pious corporate social responsibility
programmes from a tobacco company that freely endorses surrogate advertising. And
you have a Member of Parliament whose intentions could definitely be construed to
point at encouraging surrogate advertising. Forget the advertising agencies. They are
too small in this game. Advertisers must decide what is right and what is wrong. And
the consumer must be the ultimate judge. Do you want to patronise the products and
services of companies who are legally correct, or really correct? That’s a choice you
have to make. The advertising is purely incidental.

3.12 FEW CASES OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING

1. Mr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Ex-Union Health Minister had challenged the name
of the Bangalore Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team, "Royal
Challengers", which was an obvious form of surrogate advertising for liquor
brand "Royal Challenge". After which, the Supreme Court of India in August
2008 pointed out that the team was not named 'Royal Challenge', the liquor

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brand, but "Royal Challengers" so this will not lure the viewers as only those
who drink can be attracted by these things. The Supreme Court of India also had
a simple advise “Watch cricket and do not see too much of liquor in it”. In the
aforementioned matter the bench observed in a lighter vein alluding to the fact
that a name wouldn’t have any effect on non drinkers. Keeping this in note, the
Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) started to take on the surrogate liquor
advertisements, where it ruled that if liquor companies promote any juice,
mineral water or soda then they should show these products in a proper manner.
2. A television commercial featuring from the sport of cricket, ace spinner
Harbhajan Singh for Royal Stag having a tagline “it’s your life. Make it large”
and Indian cricket team captain M.S Dhoni for United Spirits having tagline
“The No.1 spirit of Leadership”, has stirred a controversy between the Indian
cricketers Harbhajan Singh and M.S Dhoni because of a rare case of a spoof in
surrogate advertising.
3. In October, 2010 the Royal Stag ad showed the Indian spinner opening not to
work in his father’s ball bearing factory and focus on cricket instead. At the end
he asks the viewers with his achievement if he has “made it large” in life. In
addition to this, recently McDowell’s No.1 Platinum commercial shows a
Harbhajan look-alike making ball bearings of the size of the gym balls at his
father’s factory, asking “have I made it large”, only to get slapped by his father
for creating very large gym balls and for being incompetent. Then it shows
Dhoni saying “Forget large and do something different”.
4. In view of the above, Harbhajan through his lawyers on July 18, 2011 served a
legal notice to Vijay Mallya’s UB Spirits for a television commercial for
McDowell’s No.1 Platinum, where the notice claimed that commercial shows
Indian skipper Dhoni “mocking” him, his family and the Sikh community, and
for which an unconditional public apology to Harbhajan family in all widely
read newspapers as well as television channels prominently and withdrawal of
the commercial within three days of receiving it was asked. Further a
compensation of Rs.1 Lakh to the cricketer’s family towards the cost of notice
was also asked.
5. Seagram, India’s largest multinational player in the spirits business had been
operating across the entire wine and spirits spectrum in India since 1995. It had
generated consumer pull through effective advertising. With India’s entry into

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the World Trade Organization in 2001, the decision to open up the sector for
imports and subsequent restructuring in 2002-03 led to intensification of
competition in the industry. This battle at the marketplace was further fuelled
by anticipation of a steep fall in sales due to ban on liquor advertising.
In November 2004, Seagram India was revisiting its marketing communications
plans. With the aim of achieving greater market presence, it was developing its
marketing communication strategy to achieve differentiation and competitive
edge in the market. The company was exploring the emphasis on sales
promotion rather than advertising to achieve that end.

3.13 SURROGATE ADVERTISING RULES & REGULATIONS

National And International Regulations :

1. Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003:
The Section 5 of the act prohibits the advertisement of “Tobacco Products” direct and
indirect means and to look from a general point of view the tobacco products are not
promoted instead the name of the brand of the tobacco product is used to promote other
products. So in order to bring it out of the purview of violations of this legislation and
its rules, the brand name is withdrawn from the tobacco packets and must be exclusively
used in unrelated products.

2. The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 (“CTNA”):

This was enacted to regulate the operation of cable television networks in india and
Rule 7(1) of CTN Rules , enacted under the provisions of Section 22 which provides
that “Advertising carried in the cable service shall be so designed as to conform to the
laws of the country and should not offend morality, decency and religious
susceptibilities of the subscribers”. Rule 7(2)(viii)(a) provides that, “No advertisement
shall be permitted which promotes directly or indirectly production, sale or
consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants”

3. 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

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practices. The Code applies to all forms of advertisement, that is, to newspapers,
magazines, television, radio, cinema and posters, amongst others. This clause also lays
down the criteria for deciding whether an advertisement is indirect advertisement.

Section 6 of the ASCI 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 given to the following:
• Visual content of the advertisement must depict only the product being
advertised and not the prohibited or restricted product in any form or manner.
• The advertisement must not make any direct or indirect reference to the
prohibited or restricted products.
• The advertisement must not create any nuances or phrases promoting prohibited
products.'

4. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC):

India ratified the convention on 5th February,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.
Article 13 of the Convention is titled as Tobacco advertising, promotion and
sponsorship. This article recognizes the fact that a comprehensive ban is necessary and
imperative. The framework gives the parties the freedom to introduce a comprehensive
legislation banning all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Article 1. Definitions :
“Tobacco Advertising and Promotion” means any form of commercial communication,
recommendation or action with the aim, effect or likely effect of promoting a tobacco
product or tobacco use either directly or indirectly;

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“Tobacco Sponsorship” means any form of contribution to any event, activity or

individual with the aim, effect or likely effect of promoting a tobacco product or
tobacco use either directly or indirectly;

Article 13 of the convention is titled as Tobacco advertising, promotion and

sponsorship. This article recognizes the fact that a comprehensive ban is necessary and
imperative. The framework gives the parties the freedom to introduce a comprehensive
legislation banning all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in accordance
with the constitutional principles of the parties. The time limit granted to the members
is 5 years from the date of the convention coming into force. For India the convention
came into force on 5th Feb.2004. The parties are also encouraged to go beyond the
convention obligations and implement appropriate measures for achieving the
objective.

Portrayal in Movies
Movies however have shown disclaimer in English and in regional language but
however, the disclaimers at the start of a film are not likely to compete with the kind of
glamorization of smoking that can occur during the film itself.
There are Asian movies which typically has negative influence having a typical direct
appeal to a young adult audience like “Love in a Puff” about a young smoking couple
falling in love where main characters meet while smoking, which in a way have direct
appeal on young adult audience. 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 in Coolie and Sholay and ‘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, it’s the brand that the actor smokes off-screen that is likely
to have a greater impact.
“it does impress people … I am smoking SRK’s (Shahrukh Khan’s) cigarette brand”

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STEPS THAT CAN BE TAKEN TO COMBAT SURROGATE ADVERTISING:

1) Making clear and unambiguous transparent laws banning surrogate
advertisements for different products under a single brand name.
2) Conducting consumer awareness programmers to help people understand the
negative impact of surrogate advertisements.
3) Providing more power to the Advertising standards Council of India to enable
it to take action against false and misleading advertisements and keep a close
vigil over clever evasion of the law, instead of just issuing notices.
4) Establishing a mechanism for effective implementation of international and
national regulations.
5) Several NGOs such as HRIDAY(Health related information dissemination
amongst youth), SHAN (Student Health Action Network) etc led campaigns
appealing the Government for a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising. The
role of NGOs in combating the menace of surrogate advertising should be
recognized and they should be given more authority to work on such issues.

Policy initiatives to limit the use of cigarette smoking or tobacco consumption:

In view of the findings, the following policies need to be adopted by the Indian film
industry to reduce the influence of tobacco portrayal in movies:
1) Modify the Indian rating guidelines eliminating the most tobacco use
from youth oriented U (Universal) and U/A (Universal adult) movies
through working with and encouraging the entertainment industry to
adopt strict measures for tobacco portrayal.

2) Certify No Pay-Offs: Every film should post a certificate in the credits

at the end of the movie declaring that nobody on the production accepted
anything of value from any tobacco company, its agents or fronts.

3) Ban Sponsorship of Film Events: Media and film companies should stop
supporting events that are sponsored by tobacco companies.

4) Run Strong Anti-Smoking Ads: Producers and exhibitors should run

strong anti-smoking ads, that are not produced or sponsored by tobacco
companies, before and during the interval of a film with any tobacco

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presence in it. Preferably, the actors who are shown smoking in the film
should be used to persuade viewers against smoking.

5) Stop Identifying Tobacco Brands: Tobacco brands should not be shown

in scenes – they are unnecessary.

6) Rate any Smoking Movie “A”: The Censor Board should be encouraged
to give an adult rating to movies that depict smoking. This would put
pressure on producers to stop unnecessary depiction of smoking.

7) Television warning: Encourage broadcasters to run a health warning

message if the movie contains tobacco consumption.

3.14 COMPANIES FOLLOWING SURROGATE ADVERTISING

ALCOHOL
Brands Surrogates
Seagrams Music
Mc Dowells Water & Soda
Bagpiper Water, Soda & Music CDs
Red & White Bravery Awards
Bacardi Music
Kingfisher Mineral Water &
Calendars
Wills Lifestyle Apparels, accessories
White Mischief Holidays
Imperial Blue Cassettes & CDs
Smrinoff Vodka Fruit Juices
Royal Challenge Golf Tournment
Aristocrat Apple Juice
Officers Choice Social Obligation towards
society

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Derby Special Soda

RadicoKhaitans Water

TOBACCO
Rajnigandha Kesar pan masala
Goa gutka Pan masala
Pan Parag Pan masala
Manikchand Filmfare awards
Chainikhaini Pan masala
Pataka 502 Bidi
Gopal Zarda Gopal suprai 132

CIGARETTES
Brands Surrogates
Red & White Cigarettes Bravery Award Ceremony
Gold Flake Tennis tournaments
Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, Lifestyle(textiles),
Showrooms, Indian Cricket Team
Matches.
Four Square White water Rafting & Gliding
Charms Audio Cassettes & CDs

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SEAGRAM’S

Seagram Company Ltd. (formerly traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational

conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of
Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was the largest owner of alcoholic
beverage lines in the world at the height of the 1990s.

Toward the end of its independent existence, it also controlled various entertainment
and other business ventures, with its purchase of MCA Inc., whose assets included
Universal Studios and its theme parks, financed through the sale of Seagram's highly
lucrative 25% holding of chemical leader DuPont, a position it acquired in 1981.
Following this, the company imploded, with its beverage assets wholesaled off to
various industry titans, notably The Coca-Cola Company, Diageo, and Pernod Ricard.
Universal's television holdings were sold off to media entrepreneur Barry Diller, and
the balance of the Universal entertainment empire and what was Seagram was sold to
French conglomerate Vivendi in 2000.

Seagrams House, the former Seagrams headquarters in Montreal, was donated to

McGill University by Vivendi Universal in 2002, then renamed Martlet House.[2] The
iconic Seagram Building, once the company's American headquarters in New York
City, was commissioned by Phyllis Lambert, daughter of Seagram CEO Samuel
Bronfman, and designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson.

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Regarded as one of the most notable examples of the functionalist aesthetic and a
prominent instance of corporate modern architecture, it set the trend for the city's
skyline for decades to follow, and has been featured in several Hollywood films. On
completion, the innovative and luxuriously appointed 38-story tower's construction
costs made it the world's most expensive skyscraper.[3] The Bronfman family sold the
Seagram building to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association for $70.5 million
in 1979.

ROYAL STAG

Royal Stag, also known as Seagram's Royal Stag, is an Indian brand of whisky launched
in 1995. It is available in many countries across the world in various pack sizes. It is
Pernod Ricard's best selling brand by volume. It is a blend of grain spirits and imported
Scotch malts. It is commonly available in 1 L, 750 ml, 375 ml and 180 ml bottles and
also available in 90 ml and 60 ml bottles. The brand is named after a species of deer
famous for its antlers, that is also featured in its logo. It is produced in several company-
owned as well as bottler-owned distilleries. It was the first whisky brand launched in
India that did not use any artificial flavours.

Pernod Ricard has identified Royal Stag along with Seagram's Imperial Blue, Seagram's
Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal and Seagram's 100 Pipers as the company's five core
brands to build its spirits business in India. Royal Stag sold 12.3 million cases in 2011,

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toppling Absolut Vodka, to become Pernod Ricard's biggest selling brand in its global
portfolio of alcoholic beverages. Royal Stag sold 18 million cases in 2016

Marketing of Royal Stag

Royal Stag is placed in the deluxe segment of the Indian whisky market and is priced
to target the upper middle class aged 25–40 years. The brand's main national
competitor, at its price point, is United Spirits Ltd's McDowell's No.1 whisky. Royal
Stag also faces competition from Radico Khaitan's 8 PM Royale,Mason & Summers'
"Royal Crown",[25] United Spirits Ltd's Royal Mist whiskies and Allied Blenders &
Distilleries (ABD)'s Officer's Choice Black. Pernod Ricard has identified Royal Stag
along with Imperial Blue, Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers as the
company's five core brands to build its spirits business in India. 5 brands have been
divided in 2 categories, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers come under "lifestyle business "
category while rest of brands along with Royal Stag come under India-made foreign
liquor (IMFL). It is marketed in 1 L, 750 ml, 375 ml and 180 ml bottles and also
available in 90 ml and 60 ml bottles.

Advertising alcoholic beverages is banned in India as per the Cable Television Network
(Regulation) Amendment Bill, which came into effect on 8 September 2000. To
circumvent the ban liquor manufacturers use surrogate advertising or develop associate
properties. Royal Stag uses three themes – Mega Movie, Mega Music and Mega Cricket
– to promote the brand. According to Seagram India's vice-president of marketing
Bikram Basu, "We've developed Royal Stag Mega Cricket and Royal Stag Mega
Movies to promote the brand". Mega Cricket sells cricket gear, and sponsors cricket
events, and Basu claims that Mega Movies sponsors "around 8–10 national releases of
Hollywood movies every year." The brand often uses cricketers and Bollywood stars
in its advertising. The brand's slogan is: "It's your life, make it large".

In 2006, a Royal Stag advert featuring Harbhajan Singh without his turban, with his
hair tumbling down over his shoulders, outraged orthodox Sikhs, who burnt effigies in
the city of Amritsar.[34] Sikh clergy and its representative body, the Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) demanded an apology from Singh and
demanded that Pernod Ricard India withdraw the ad, which the SGPC termed, an

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"offensive representation which has hurt the feelings of Sikhs." Singh later apologised
saying, "I apologise. In case I have hurt the feelings of my people, it was really not my
intention."
A Royal Stag ad in 2011 featuring Harbhajan Singh, showed him opting to not work in
his father's ball bearing factory and focus on cricket instead. The commercial ends with
him asking the viewer, if with his achievements, "Have I made it large?" Royal Stag's
rival, United Spirits Ltd's McDowell's No. 1 Platinum whisky mocked the ad in its
commercial featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The ad showed Harbhajan look-alike
making ball bearings the size of gym balls at his father's factory, asking if he had "made
it large", only to get slapped by his father for being incompetent. Dhoni then tells the
viewer, "Zindagi main kuch karna hai to large chodo, kuch alag karo yaar" (If you want
to do something in life, then forget large, do something different yaar). The ad is
considered to be a rare example of a spoof in surrogate advertising. The Economic
Times quoted an industry official as saying, "It is in bad taste, this type of advertising
has never been used in the Indian liquor industry." Harbhajan served a legal notice to
United Spirits Ltd on 18 July 2011 claiming that the commercial mocked him, his
family and the Sikh community. The notice was sent to Vijay Mallya, UB Executive
vice-chairman SR Gupte, President & CFO Ravi Nedungadi, Deputy President Harish
Bhat and Executive VP (Corporate Affairs) Nandini Verma. It was sent by Avtar Kaur,
Harbhajan's mother, through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants. Kaur
stated these kinds of advertisements brought "disunity and friction" in the Indian cricket
team and could be termed "anti-national". The notice also demanded that the company
publicly apologise to the family "through widely-read newspapers as well as television
channels prominently", remove the advertisement within three days of receiving the
notice and compensation of ₹100,000 (US$1,400). The United Breweries Group
withdrew the ad on 22 July 2011 stating that had done so "in the interest of the game of
cricket" and fearing that the commercial could be "misused by vested interests to further
their own agenda". The company also stated that the view of the management was that
there was no maintainable case.

Brand Ambassadors
In 2002, Seagram signed eight cricketers to endorse Royal Stag, including Harbhajan
Singh (India), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Glenn McGrath
(Australia), Jonty Rhodes (South Africa), Mervyn Dillon (West Indies), Stephen

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Fleming (New Zealand), and Andy Flower (Zimbabwe). The campaign was handled by
Ogilvy & Mather. Seagram spent ₹2.5 crore (US$350,000) on this promotion.
Following this contract, in 2004, Pakistan Civil Court ruled that Wasim Akram had hurt
sentiments of Muslims and was fined 25,000 Pakistani rupees (£238) and ordered to
apologize the nation. While Akram's lawyer maintained stand that Akram had never
appeared in any advertisement of alcoholic product.

Other cricketers that have featured as brand ambassadors or have appeared in Royal
Stag advertising include Gautam Gambhir, Jonty Rhodes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
Ricky Ponting and Yuvraj Singh.

The brand's first TV commercial with Saif Ali Khan as brand ambassador, aired in
2007. The campaign was developed by creative agency Ogilvy & Mather. It also
featured cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Robin
Uthappa. According to Bikram Basu, vice-president, marketing, Seagram India, "The
TVC [television commercial] intends to further strengthen the brand's positioning of
"Make it Large". The campaign defines the larger than life attitude associated with
Royal Stag. It targets the party loving youth of the country, who aspire to make it large
in every aspect of their lives and communicates the brand message in a truly fast-paced
and international way."

On 10 February 2010, Pernod Ricard India announced that it had signed Shahrukh
Khan, for an undisclosed amount, as the brand ambassador for Royal Stag, for a period
of one year. The company said that Shahrukh would work in tandem with Saif Ali Khan,
who has been the brand ambassador since 2007. In April 2013, social activist T Satish
Kumar and student leader Banoth Amru Naik, from the Nalgonda district of Andhra
Pradesh, filed a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) against
Telugu film actor Mahesh Babu for endorsing Royal Stag. The annulment of the
agreemenet would result in Sri Lanka Cricket losing its rights to organise matches at
the stadium.
In 2014 Pernod Ricard India announced its signing of Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh
and Arjun Kapoor as brand ambassadors. General manager of Marketing Raja Banerjee
said that, "We firmly believe that the dynamic duo represents the dreams of this country

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and therefore would reinforce our brand positioning". However, they maintained that
Shah Rukh Khan would continue to promote the brand.

KINGFISHER

Kingfisher is an Indian beer brewed by United Breweries Group, Bangalore. The brand
was launched in 1978. With a market share of over 36% in India, it is also available in
52 other countries The Heineken Group holds 42.4% equity shares in United Breweries
Ltd.

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Kingfisher is ranked 74th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand
Trust Report 2012, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. In the Brand Trust
Report 2013, Kingfisher was ranked 102nd among India's most trusted brands and
subsequently, according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Kingfisher was ranked 198th
among India's most trusted brands.
During the years 2009 through 2015, United Spirits (USL) / Diageo exited all non-core
investments in United Breweries and sold 850,000 INR shares to Heineken, which will
now give it leverage to managing affairs of India's largest beer producer. USL sold
3.21% shares for Rs 872 crore in a block trade. The shares were sold at Rs 1,030 apiece,
a slight premium to Tuesday's closing price of Rs 1,014.10. As of July 2015, Heineken's
stake in United Breweries (UB) has increased from 39% to 42.1%. This deal will give
Heineken an upper hand over Vijay Mallya in running the company.

Kingfisher Beer Europe Ltd. (KBE) is the European arm of United Breweries with a
head office in Maidstone, Kent. In the UK, Kingfisher is brewed under licence by
Heineken but to the same recipe as used in India. The company run independently to
Kingfisher World and has its own assets such as website, social media, POS suite &
marketing objectives such as the tagline, 'The Real Taste of India' which highlights the
brand's genuine heritage and sets it apart from other similar products in the UK &
Europe.
KBE sell only one Kingfisher variant; Kingfisher Premium, which is available in four
formats; 330ml (24 x 330ml cases), 650ml (12 x 650ml case), pint or half pint draught
and kegs (30 or 50L).

In November 2016, KBE launched a brand new product to the market, Peacock Cider.
A 'quality apple cider' created to 'elegantly complement Asian flavours, providing a
burst of apple refreshment to balance aromatic spices.'
In 2017, KBE have also added two more products to their expanding portfolio - Bintang
Beer, 'Indonesia's No.1 Beer' and Pearl River Beer, an 'Iconic Cantonese Beer'.

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McDowell’s No 1

McDowell's No.1 previous Asare-Takyi distilleries is an Indian brand of spirits

manufactured by United Spirits Limited (USL), a subsidiary of the Diageo. It is USL's
flagship brand and the largest umbrella spirits brand in the world, comprising three
categories - whisky, brandy and rum (under the name McDowell's No.1 Celebration).
The brand also has bottled water and soda. The brand began with the launch of
McDowell's No.1 Brandy in 1963-64. The brand's slogan is Mera No.1 (My No.1).
Name "McDowell" came from Scottish "distillery king" Angus McDowell who
established "McDowell and Company" in India in 1898 which was an overseas branch
of "McDowell of Scotland". In 1951, "McDowell and Company" were acquired by UB
Group of Vittal Mallya.

History & Marketing

The McDowell's No.1 of brand began with the launch of McDowell's No.1 Brandy in
1963-64 by McDowell and Company, a company that the United Breweries Group had
acquired in 1951. In 1959, owner Vittal Mallya established McDowell and Company's
first distillery at Cherthala, Kerala. McDowell's began bottling Bisquit Brandy and
Dorville French Brandy, from imported concentrates. The company commissioned
India's first distillation plant to produce extra neutral alcohol (ENA) at Cherthala in
1961. McDowell's launched its own McDowell's No.1 Brandy in 1963-64, following
the termination of the import contract for No.1 Bisquit Brandy. The company launched

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McDowell's No.1 whisky in 1968. McDowell's No.1 Rum was launched in Celebration
(Dark) and Caribbean (White) variants in 1990-91.
The company was incorporated in the year 1999 as McDowell Sprits Ltd, and changed
its name from McDowell Sprits Ltd to McDowell & Company Ltd on 1 April 2000.
The company changed their name again to the current name United Spirits Limited
(USL), with effect from 17 October 2006. In 2000, Claessens International, a London-
based design consulting firm, to revamp the bottle design and packaging of the entire
McDowell's No.1 series. The company terminated its existing arrangement with Paul
Simmons & Associates.

McDowell's No.1 Reserve Whisky was launched in 1968, and is a blend of imported
scotch and Indian malt whiskies McDowell's No.1 whisky is sold in several countries
apart from India, including Africa, Canada, the Far East, Japan, the Middle East and the
United Arab Emirates.
McDowell's No.1 Diet Mate, which the company claims is the world's first diet whisky,
is a variant of McDowell's No.1 whisky. McDowell's No.1 Diet Mate was launched in
2006. It is sold in pint, nip, quartz, and 750 ml bottles, at a cost 5% higher than
McDowell's No.1 whisky. The product was initially launched in Mumbai and Thane,
but later expanded to other markets. Debashish Shyam, then General Manager
(Marketing) of UB Group Spirits Division, stated that "Diet Mate is not a low-calorie
whisky but has ingredients that increase metabolism.
McDowell's No.1 Rum was launched in Celebration (Dark) and Caribbean (White)
variants in 1990-91. It is sold in 13 countries. In 2015, it overtook Bacardi as "world's
best-selling rum brand"
McDowell's No.1 Brandy was launched in 1963-64, and was the first McDowell's No.1
branded product. The brand created the template for the many "No. 1" brands that the
company would launch later. It is the largest selling brandy in the world by volume. It
sold 4.6 million cases in 2004, and 13.7 million cases in 2009.
McDowell's No.1 is mainly advertised through Bollywood and cricket, as well as sports
and music events. The brand has associated itself with Bollywood films such as Devdas,
Road, Kaante and Stumped, through its "Mera No 1 Entertainment" banner.

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On 21 August 2009, McDowell's No 1 announced a tie-up with Shillong Lajong F.C.,

the first team to qualify for the I-League 2009-2010 from North-East India.[35]
McDowell's No.1 signed Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a three-year endorsement deal,
worth ₹26 crore (US$3.6 million), for McDowell's No 1 soda.

McDowell's No.1 whisky releases special packs to commemorate Holi, Diwali and New
Year. McDowell's No.1 has sponsored several music concerts in India featuring artists
such as Mark Knopfler, Enrique Iglesias, Elton John, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal
Dadlani and Shekhar Rajviani, and Rabbi Shergill, Strings, Bombay Vikings, Shibani
Kashyap, Abhijeet Sawant, Kailash Kher and Mika Singh.

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CHAPTER 4 : DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATAION

1. Name:
2. Age:

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 62 % people are from the age group between 16-20, 27 %
belongs to the age group from 21-40, 11 % belongs to the age group of 41-70 years.

Data Interpretation:
Above survey data shows that people from the age group of 16-20 years looks more
aware about Surrogate Advertising, people in the age group of 21-40 are less aware
about the Surrogate Advertising. Age group of 41-70 doesn’t know much about
Surrogate Advertising.

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3. Gender

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 55 % are male respondent and 45 % are female respondent from
the total survey.

Data Interpretation:
From the above pie diagram we can assume that out of total survey done most of males
and females have knowledge about the Surrogate Advertising and also the surrogate
products.

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4. Are you aware about Surrogate Advertisements?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 45 % people are aware about Surrogate Advertisements and the
other 45 % people are not aware at all about the Surrogate Advertisements. The 10%
people have a little bit idea about the Surrogate Advertisements.

Data Interpretation:
We can see that equal numbers of people are aware and unaware of the concept of
surrogate advertisements and the other people seems to have some idea or might not
have any idea about anything related to Surrogate Advertisements

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5. Through which media are Surrogate Advertisements seen the most?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 65 % of surrogate advertisements are observed through
television, 24 % through Internet, 7 % through Mobile & 4 % through Print Media.

Data Interpretation:
From above data we can find out the effective means of media advertising through
which television advertising is more reachable than other media like mobile, print
media and television.

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6. How often do you see the advertisements of Alcohol/ Cigarettes/ Pan

Masala?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 48 % people have seen surrogate advertisements occasionally,
23 % people have seen regularly, 19 % have seen rarely, the other 5% have not seen at
all and other 5 % don’t remember it as they might don’t have any idea about surrogate
advertisements.

Data Interpretation:
From above data we can find that the advertisements of alcohol/ cigarettes/ pan masala
are seen occasionally and we can see that some people don’t even remember the
advertisement. The question aims to find out how often customer watches an
advertisement shows that ads should be more effective to make them watch regularly
instead occasionally.

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7. Is there any requirement of advertisement of such products?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 52 % feel that there is no requirement of advertisements of such
products, 26 % are not sure about it, 20 % feels like it should be shown and the other 2
% don’t have any idea.

Data Interpretation:
From above data we can find that people don’t want to see such advertisement of these
kind of surrogate products. Some people want to see but others are not sure about the
need of such kind of advertisements.

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8. Do you have knowledge about how to ban advertisements of such

products in India?

Yes 66 44 %
No 84 56 %
Total 150 100 %

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 44 % of people have knowledge about how to ban advertisements
of such products and 56 % of people don’t have any idea about how to ban such
advertisements.

Data Interpretation
From the above data we can find that people don’t know the level of awareness on
banning of promotion of these ads which shows that more than half of sample is not
aware.

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9. Do you agree/ disagree on banning of advertisements of these

products?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 39 % of people strongly agree on banning of advertisements of
these products, 30 % only agree, 20 % neither agree nor disagree, 10 % disagree and 1
% strongly disagree.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that most of the people are in favor of banning this
kind of surrogate advertisements while 20 % of the people are confused whether it
should be banned or not. The 10 % people disagree about banning of such kind of
products.

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10. While looking at Surrogate Advertisements can you recall the

original products?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 39 % of people can recall the original products while looking at
the advertisements, 26 % can definitely recall it, 19 % can occasionally recall it, 11 5
can’t recall it at all and 5 % don’t remember.

Data Interpretation:
From above data we can find that people remember the ads well and their brand names
in surrogate ads are effective in customers’ mind. Most of the people can recall the
original products while looking at the Surrogate Advertisements. The 26 % people can
definitely remember the products and others remember it occasionally and some don’t
remember it at all.

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11. Have you seen Surrogate advertisements?

Yes 135 91 %
No 15 9%
Total 150 100 %

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 91 % of people have seen surrogate advertisements and the rest
of 9 % haven’t seen any of such advertisements.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that the public has seen the surrogate ads without
knowing what they are and only a little bit of people have not seen the advertisements
due to some reasons.

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12. Do you purchase products like soda, water, etc after watching such
Surrogate Advertisements?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 54 % people don’t purchase products of such surrogate
advertisements, 36 % purchase it occasionally, 6 % purchase it regularly, 4 % purchase
it often.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can see that it gives a clear idea that surrogate ads don’t have
any impact on sale of surrogate products as most of the people don’t buy such kind of
products after looking at the advertising.

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13. How do you evaluate such advertisements?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 42 % of people evaluate such advertisements as misguiding, 21
% evaluate it as boring, 17 % evaluate it as informative, 14 % evaluate it as entertaining
and 6 % evaluate it as disturbing.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that more areas are to be explored as to make surrogate
ads since it creates negative ideas in the minds of the public as majority treat them to
be misguided and boring. Some of the people find it informative and others find it
entertaining as they might not have idea about such things.

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14. Do such advertisements have impact on Surrogate products?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 39 % of people think that such advertisements will probably
have impact on surrogate products, 24 % don’t have any idea, 15 % people think it will
probably not affect, 14 % think it will definitely affect and 8 % think it will definitely
not affect.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can conclude that such kind of advertisements do have an
impact on surrogate products to an extent. Others think it might not have an affect which
is wrong and some are not decided that what will have an impact of such
advertisements.

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15. Does this type of advertisements induces to try the original

product?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 54 % of people think that it never induces to try the original
products, 30 % think it induces sometimes, 7 % think it induces occasionally, 5 % think
it induces often and 4 % think it induces regularly.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that Surrogate ads are not effective in nature as they
don’t induce the public to purchase the product. While same have to buy it sometimes
as there would be no option for them. A little percent of people buy it often or regularly.

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16. Surrogate Advertisements of which product category is seen the

most?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 78 % of surrogate advertisements are seen of alcohol and
beverages, 15 % are seen of tobacco and 7 % is seen of cigarettes.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that most of the surrogate ads that are seen are of
alcohol products and there is less seen advertisements of Tobacco while the
advertisements of cigarettes are rarely seen now.

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17. Surrogate advertisements of which brands are seen the most?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 28 % of surrogate advertisements of Royal challenge are seen,
25 % of Rajnigandha, 19 % of Kingfisher, 11 % of Imperial Blue, 9 % of Mc Dowells,
6 % of Bacardi and 2 % of Wills Lifestyle.

Data Interpretation:
From the above the data we can find that there are many advertisements of surrogate
products but Royal challenge ad reached out to most of the people as it was also
connected to cricket and many other things. The other products advertisements have
reached to many people but not as much like the Royal challenge have and the products
are as follows- Rajnigandha, Wills Lifestyle, Kingfisher, Bacardi, Imperial Blu, Mc
Dowells.

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18. What is your opinion on Surrogate Advertisements?

Data Analysis:
Out of the total survey 41 % of people think surrogate advertisements are unethical, 37
% think it should be banned and 22 % think it is ethical.

Data Interpretation:
From the above data we can find that the public opinion on surrogate ads with respect
to ethical concerns and majority people considers them to be unethical and other people
think that they should be banned.

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4.1 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

7. Is there any requirement of advertisement of such products?

• Ho: There is no requirement of such kind of surrogate advertisements.
H1: There is requirement of such kind of surrogate advertisements.

HYPOTHESIS VALIDITY:
From the above statistics it is concluded that :

Hence H0 is accepted, hence H1 is rejected.

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18. What is your opinion on Surrogate Advertisements?

• Ho: Surrogate Advertisements are Ethical
H1: Surrogate Advertisements are Unethical

HYPOTHESIS VALIDITY:
From the above statistics it is concluded that :

Hence H1 is accepted, hence Ho is rejected

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CHAPTER 5 : FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS & CONCLUSIONS

5.1 FINDINGS
1. Out of different Medias for advertisement, it is found that television advertising
is more effective and reachable to the customers.
2. The advertisements of Royal Challenge are remembered more , since repeated
ads are able to create brand image on such products
3. Most of the customers can identify the surrogate products in the market, with
their existing brand names of original product.
4. It’s the effective use of celebrities and creativity , the surrogate products makes
their product success.
5. People remind only continuously seen surrogate advertisements , it means more
areas of advertisements to be explored .
6. Surrogate advertisements have not induced most of the customer to try the
product, which means it hasn’t hit the mind of customer directly.
7. Companies had to concentrate since customer is looking for ethical aspects also
regarding the surrogate advertisements.
8. To explain the concept of surrogate advertisements.
9. To study the consumers' awareness towards surrogate advertisements.
10. To evaluate the influence of surrogate advertisement on consumers’ buying
decision.
11. To understand the consumer perception towards surrogate advertisements and
its products.
12. It is found that most of the people have seen surrogate advertisements in their
daily lives and also have knowledge to some extent of how to ban such
advertisements.
13. People find such advertisements as misguiding and misleading and disturbing
14. Most of the people agree that the requirement of such advertisements is not
needed
15. It is observed that people think that such advertisements will probably have
impact on surrogate products.
16. People see the advertisements of alcohol the most and the advertisements of
tobacco and cigarettes are seen less as compared to alcohol

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5.2 SUGGESTIONS

1. Frequency of surrogate advertisement is less. So, companies should increase

frequency for more effectiveness.

2. Public has negative perception towards surrogate ads as they are considered
unethical, so companies have to find a way to reverse their view to positive.

3. Creating a consumer awareness programs to give them required knowledge.

4. There is nothing illegal in promoting of such products in the society provided

that the marketer doesn‘t violate the rules and regulations of the government
framed in the interest of the general public.
5. The intention of marketers should be to promote their banned products but not
to harm the health of its consumers.
6. As the people see surrogate advertisements , through different medias , but they
seek more innovative way of such advertisements.
7. The effective surrogate advertisements will create considerable change in
companies sales, So there is huge opportunity for liquor companies to develop
advertisement strategies and make more sales.
8. Surrogate products creating some negative impacts ethically; if companies able
to convert that negative impacts to positive , they can take the mileage of
surrogate advertisements.
9. Companies need to introduce various advertisement strategies depending on
different geographical areas .
10. Company have to give prior importance to customer’s preference while doing
liquor surrogate advertisements.
11. Companies are generally doing advertising in soda, mineral water, music cd’s
etc.. they can go for more diversified advertisements like sponsoring Indian
Premier League etc.....
12. Making transparent laws banning surrogate advertisements for different
products under a single brand names, by amending the Trade Marks Act, for
instance;

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13. Providing teeth to the Advertising Standards Council of India to enable it take
action against false and misleading advertisements, and keep a close vigil over
clever evasion of the law;
14. Asking the electronic and print media to adhere to the advertisement codes and
not encourage surrogate advertisements;
15. Calling on the ASCI address complaints received from consumers against
surrogate advertisements and take appropriate actions immediately;
16. Creating a consumer awareness programme to help people understand the
negative impact of surrogate advertisements;
17. Adopting strict laws to penalize those companies featuring surrogate
advertisements without any real existence of the product; and requiring
advertising agencies to have full knowledge of the products under the same
brand for which they are promoting advertisements, and taking legal actions
against those agencies which design surrogate advertisements.
18. Health warnings-A single health warning (“Cigarette smoking is injurious to
health” or “Drinking liquor is injurious to health”) is mandatory on packets and
any advertisements.

5.3 CONCLUSIONS
Surrogate advertising is basically duplicating the brand image of a particular product
and then promoting a different product of the same brand. Ban on advertising of
alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco products gave rise to the concept of surrogate advertising
in India. It has become an ethical issue and has emerged as a loophole challenge over
government rules. Though this upcoming trend is not healthy for the young consumers
& others in the interest of the health of the community; Surrogate ads have proved
themselves a strapping& successful marketing strategy for the forbidden goods today.
Surrogate Advertising has been a powerful medium through which a particular brand
reaches to its consumers. Although the original products have not been advertised on
the television still these brands enjoy a higher sales volume each and every year. The
trend followed by such ads could prove to be boon for big and established players as
they result in higher brand recall value, thereby helping them to push their banned
products further. Thus, surrogate advertising has played a vibrant role for these brands
to sustain in the market even after banning the advertisements of their original products.

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With government now enforcing ban on surrogate advertisements, companies are

turning to event sponsorship, event organizing, corporate films and more and more
innovative integrated marketing communications strategies

This study was conducted to know the knowledge and perception of customers about
surrogate advertisements in the Hyderabad city and analyses the factors for knowing
the surrogate advertisement have any impact on the consumers buying behavior for buy
the surrogate products. It got understood surrogate advertisements are only successful
in creating brand recall of the hidden product in the advertisement. People do not get
much influenced by these products’ advertisements while making their purchase, they
just remind the brand existence. During the study, a sample of 150 respondents were
analyzed the knowledge of customer, their preferences and knowledge. The data was
collected by questionnaire method. The knowledge and awareness level is low, the main
reason for not knowing about most of surrogate advertisements are they are not exposed
to see that many times. Consumers are ethically concerned with respect to surrogate
advertisements.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Web Preferences
1. www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/14340-surrogate-advertising-
hidden-yet-visible-products.html
2. www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/surrogate-advertising-and-its-impact-
on-the-mind-marketing-essay.php
3. www.slideshare.net/shampm88/a-project-report-on-the-impact-of-surrogate-
advertisement-in-surrogate-products-at-ogilvy-mather
4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogate_advertising
5. www.indianmba.com/faculty_column/fc266/fc266.html
6. www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/05/23/stories/2003052300090900.htm
7. http://www.wikipedia.com
8. www.marketing research.com
9. www.researchandmarkets.com

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APPENDIX

1. Name:
2. Age:
o 16-20
o 21-40
o 41-70
3. Gender
o Male
o Female
4. Are you aware about Surrogate Advertisements?
o Yes
o No
o May be
5. Through which media are Surrogate Advertisments seen the most?
o Television
o Print Media
o Internet
o Mobile
6. How often do you see the advertisements of Alcohol/ Cigarettes/
Pan Masala?
o Regular
o Ocassional
o Rare
o Not at all
o Don’t remember
7. Is there any requirement of advertisement of such products?
o Yes
o No
o May be
o Other

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8. Do you have knowledge about how to ban advertisements of such

products in India?
o Yes
o No
9. Do you agree/ disagree on banning of advertisements of these
products?
o Strong agree
o Agree
o Neither Agree/ Disagree
o Disagree
o Strongly Disagree
10. While looking at Surrogate Advertisements can you recall the
original products?
o Definitely
o Most probably
o Occasionally
o Not at all
o Don’t remember
11. Have you seen Surrogate advertisements?
o Yes
o No
12. Do you purchase products like soda, water, etc after watching
such Surrogate Advertisements?
o Never
o Occasionally
o Regularly
o Often
13. How do you evaluate such advertisements?
o Entertaining
o Boring
o Informative
o Misguiding
o Disturbing

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14. Do such advertisements have impact on Surrogate products?

o Definitely will not affect
o Probably will not affect
o Undecided
o Probably will affect
o Definitely will affect
15. Does this type of advertisements induces to try the original
product?
o Never
o Occasionally
o Sometimes
o Regularly
o Often
16. Surrogate Advertisements of which product category is seen the
most?
o Alcohol beverages
o Tobacco
o Cigarettes
17. Surrogate advertisements of which brands are seen the most?
o Rajnigandha
o Wills lifestyle
o Kingfisher
o Bacardi
o Royal challenge
o Imperial blue
o Mc Dowells
18. What is your opinion on Surrogate Advertisements?
o Ethical
o Unethical
o Should be banned

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