Surrogate Marketing in Cricket
From pan masala to gambling to alcohol, cricket broadcasting is getting flooded with surrogate marketing
The IPL season is underway and I was so excited for cricket. But the commercials during the broadcast have completely disheartened me.
Surrogate advertisements promote a brand or a product that is similar to the banned product, but not the same, in order to create brand awareness and visibility. Surrogate advertising is commonly used in industries such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling, where direct advertising is either illegal or highly regulated.
Cricket and surrogate marketing is a tale older than time. I remember Wills (tobacco brand) sponsoring the Indian cricket team in the 90’s and Kingfisher sponsoring IPL teams but things are becoming murkier and murkier with brands selling pan masala, alcohol and betting using our beloved sport as a vehicle to improve their sales.
It is important to note the government of India banned surrogate advertising in 2022 when it brought in a new set of guidelines to prevent misleading ads from going on air. Violators stand to face a penalty but this hasn’t deterred these brands from polluting the minds of viewers (mainly teens who are easily swayed).
For example, brands like Kingfisher, Bira, Tuborg, etc have advertisements for their bottled water, zero alcohol options or even music CD’s (people from 90’s will remember this) but it is common knowledge that the advertisements are intended for viewers to buy alcohol.
This holds good for pan masala brands as well. Kamla Pasand has recently onboarded former Indian cricketers- Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar as its endorsers. As a result, the icons featured in the IPL ads of the brand, which are airing both on Jio Cinema and Star Sports. To see players who’ve inspired millions to stoop to this level is truly baffling.
“The problem with tobacco (brands) is all of them have an elaichi brand and there is no law in the country which says you cannot have a brand with two products of the same name.”
- Sandeep Goyal, managing director, Rediffusion
But we all know the marketing is done to push the viewers to their actual product, pan masala.
The likes of My11Circle (Sourav Ganguly is the face), Dream11 (Rohit Sharma and others), and MPL (they even sponsored the Indian cricket team) whose ads air on Star Sports, the league’s TV broadcaster fall under the skill-based gaming (government-allowed) category, online betting platforms are the real menace. But we know these are addictive, these are bordering on gambling (I think it’s more than bordering) and I have personally seen people losing money on these! My view is that if you have to put a disclaimer on your product advertisements that it could be addictive and the user has to be careful, it means that the product is of no benefit to people and should not be endorsed by players who are adored (almost demi-god like) by fans.
A major disappointment is the lack of effectiveness from self-regulatory bodies like the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and even regulators like the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and the various ministries. Surrogate advertising still thrives.
While the IPL goes on, viewers like us are burdened with watching our heroes dance to the tunes of brands that can ruin the lives of millions of people. Will this ever change? Tell me what you think.
Rohith’s Corner:
So, I have restarted playing tennis after a long gap. It took a lot of pushing and nudging but I am back on the courts! The muscle memory is kicking in and it’s amazing to hit the ball over the net! That feeling… Ahhh!!!
