The visible discomfort of milking 26/11

But what made the marketing opportunity available yesterday different from,say,the Union budget or a T-20 game,was the conspicuous absence of fizzy drinks,snack foods or flat screen TVs as sponsors of the ‘national mood’.

“We did not want to be seen as milking a tragic event,” said a spokesperson of a leading Delhi-based beverage maker. Punitha Arumugam,Group CEO of Mumbai-based Madison Media,which does media-buying for big ticket advertisers like Coca-Cola,Godrej,Marico and Airtel,said most major advertisers stayed away because they were unwilling to be seen as exploiting the event.

Some small ad spenders stood out. Thermalwear makers Duke (which advertised in this paper as well) and Lux Cotts ran logos on news TV channels during special coverage of 26/11.

Among big spenders,the exception was Idea Cellular. Its campaign — talk between 8.36 pm and 9.36 pm on November 26,and the revenue goes to Mumbai Police’s modernization efforts — was described by peers in the industry as a “business initiative” and “building a customer base via consumer sympathy”.

Idea brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan also promoted a sponsored 26/11 show on Big FM. Fever 104 ran promotions,and Radio Mirchi had an outdoor campaign — “We won’t forget” — in Mumbai. “We invited Mumbai’s chief fire officer,police commissioner,the announcer at Victoria Terminus,and the owner of Café Leopold on our shows,” said Sriram Kilambi,Cluster Head,Radio Mirchi.

The bigger show was obviously on television. But news TV said sponsorship wasn’t encouraged,and 26/11 anniversary specials were for most part unsponsored.

“There were no special sponsors for 26/11. We had regular advertisers during regular commercial breaks,” said a spokesperson for NDTV. Zee TV,which promoted its roadblock campaign heavily,also said sponsorship was not on the agenda.

Could news broadcasters have merely reported the national mood as opposed to trying to organize it? An editor of a leading news channel,requesting anonymity,said: “It’s a Catch-22 situation for us. If we don’t do it,people will charge us with insensitivity. If we do it,we will be charged with whipping up emotions.”