It turned out to be wrong timing for condom maker Mankind Pharmaceuticals and its celebrity brand ambassador former porn star Sunny Leone.
In Surat and other cities in Gujarat, a hoardings campaign by the company to mark the Navratri festivities showing Leone with the phrase, "This Navratri, play but with love.." attracted massive criticism and anger from the masses, who demanded immediate withdrawal of the posters and hoardings.
The company has since withdrawn the campaign announcing, "Navratra Hoardings Campaign was not meant to hurt anyone's sentiments & was immediately withdrawn. We deeply regret any such incident," in a tweet on the brand's handle. The company had to face the ire from the doctors fraternity too, where a section of medical practitioners declared boycott of the company's products till the issue is resolved.
Navratra Hoardings Campaign was not meant to hurt anyone's sentiments & was immediately withdrawn. We deeply regret any such incident.
— Manforce Condoms (@ManforceIndia)September 20, 2017
While the incident created a wave of protest and opposition on the grounds of hurting religious sentiments, a trade body has sought formation of a code of conduct for such endorsements by celebrities to avoid similar incidents in future.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CITI)- an apex body of trade federations on Thursday wrote a letter to the Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Smriti Irani requesting a "Code of Conduct" for brand ambassadors and stringent penal provisions against irresponsible celebrity endorsements.
"Why do companies and celebrities get away with impunity? There should be law/guidelines or at least a legal framework which could make them accountable for their actions. We have urged the Union I&B minister to formulate a specified & binding Code of Conduct with stringent penal provisions against misleading information and advertisements by corporate entities as also harsh penal deterrence against celebrities who abdicate their responsibility to society and propagate misleading information and falsehoods," said Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General of CITI.
Khandelwal had earlier written a letter to the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswan, raising objection to the "derogatory advertisement endorsement by Sunny Leone for a condom brand on Navratri."
However, from a branding perspective, brand experts see it to be a case of over policing of advertisements. The brand ambassador being Leone and product being a condom made an explosive combination for the company.
"In India, condom purchases are discreet buying. The company must have thought of the top of the mind recall value considering the past trend. They put the message, which was discreet too and innocuous in one sense. The more discussion now happens the more it will favour the brand," Santosh Zokarkar, a brand consultant based in Ahmedabad.