3/14/2020 Surrogate advertising - Wikipedia

Surrogate advertising
Surrogate advertising is a form of advertising which is used to promote banned products, like
cigarettes and alcohol, in the disguise of another product. This type of advertising uses a product
of a fairly close category, as: club soda, mineral water in case 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). In India there is a large number of companies doing surrogate
advertising, from Bacardi Blast music CD's, Bagpiper Club Soda to Officers Choice playing
cards.[1][2]

Contents
History
Surrogate advertising in India
Effectiveness of surrogate advertisements
Current scenario
References
External links

History
The origin of surrogate advertising can be traced to Britain, where housewives started protesting
against liquor advertisements which provoked their husbands.[3] 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.[3]

Surrogate advertising in India

India has held a strong stance on the ban of advertising tobacco and liquor products since 1995.
The ban was enforced after extensive research from the Indian Ministry of Health found that
cigarettes and liquor have adverse effects on a person’s health. In addition to this, the Indian
government holds the notion that these products are especially harmful to a person’s mental
health, making them lazy and unmotivated. The combination of these factors lead to an eventual
ban on advertising of these products throughout its media channels.[4]

However, the negative outlook on advertising these products can be traced back to 1975, when the
Indian government introduced the Cigarette advertising act, forcing tobacco companies to display
health warnings on the packaging and advertisements for cigarettes. The Indian government and
health ministry continued to push for stronger restriction of the advertising of tobacco and liquor
until its eventual complete ban in 1995. However, the increase in population saw the sales of

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tobacco and liquor increase at an exponential rate. Therefore, companies were forced to seek
alternative means of advertising, which lead the eventual creation of surrogate advertising in
India.[4]

Some of the first evidence of surrogate advertising was seen by the Indian tobacco Company ‘Azad
Bidi’, who sponsored an international cricket match in India.[4] In India, extensive surveys
resulted in similar findings which showed that liquor ads had direct influence on consumers'
purchasing behavior. Soon afterwards, the Cable TV Regulation Act banned liquor and cigarette
advertisements; thus, India gradually adopted surrogate advertisements.[3]

Such companies usually either go for brand extension and promote the extended products, or
promote certain products which might not be available in the market. The excessive pressure of
the ban forced companies to focus more on brand building and thus liquor companies started
sponsoring and hosting glamorous events, yet many others started distributing t-shirts, caps, key
chains, drinking glasses with the brand name displayed on these products.[5][2]

Surrogate advertising mandates a requirement for the product being marketed to have a revenue
model associated with it.[5]

Effectiveness of surrogate advertisements

According to the inferences drawn from several surveys and interviews, 42 out of 50 people can
understand the actual liquor or tobacco product being advertised.[6]

Surrogate advertisements do impact a consumer's buying decision as well. They also inform
consumers about the leading liquor brands and thus promote sales.[5]

Current scenario
With government now enforcing ban on surrogate advertisements, companies are turning to event
sponsorship, event organising, corporate films and more and more innovative integrated
marketing communications strategies, though surrogate advertising is still a common practice.[7]

References
1. Lamb, Charles W.; Hair, Joe F.; McDaniel, Carl. Essentials of Marketing (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=QpCvQfnPpNwC&pg=PT76). Cengage Learning. p. 76. ISBN 0538478349.
2. "Marketers in India Evade Alcohol Ad Ban by Promoting Surrogate Products" (http://adage.co
m/article/global-news/advertising-india-s-marketers-evade-alcohol-ad-ban/140509/).
3. "The Hindu Business Line : Surrogate advertising — Needed, a spirited attack" (http://www.the
hindubusinessline.com/2003/05/23/stories/2003052300090900.htm).
www.thehindubusinessline.com.
4. Singh, Chandrashekhar (2015). "EVALUATION OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING AND ITS
LEGAL MEASURES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INDIA" (https://www.inflibnet.ac.in/ojs/i
ndex.php/MI/article/view/3562). Management Insight. 11 (103–107).
5. "Surrogate Advertising In India: Permissible Or Not | Naik Naik & Company" (https://naiknaik.c
om/surrogate-advertising-in-india-permissible-or-not/). naiknaik.com.
6. "Has Delhi CM Resorted to Surrogate Ads on TV for Odd-Even Scheme?" (http://www.adagein
dia.in/marketing/cmo-strategy/has-delhi-cm-resorted-to-surrogate-ads-on-tv-for-odd-even-sche
me/articleshow/50484401.cms). www.adageindia.in.
7. "The art of surrogate advertising | Best Media Info, News and Analysis on Indian Advertising,
Marketing and Media Industry" (http://www.bestmediainfo.com/2016/08/the-art-of-surrogate-ad
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vertising/). www.bestmediainfo.com.

External links
Surrogate Advertising : A Successful Marketing Strategy for Liquor, Whisky products (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20121013004542/http://www.isrj.net/June/2011/Commerce_Surrogate_Adv
ertising.html) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 13, 2012)
Banning Liquor Surrogate Advertising (http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudie
s/Banning%20Liquor%20Surrogate%20Advertising1.htm)

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