HOW JUSTIFIABLE IS BANNING ‘SURROGATE ADVERTISING’?

Surrogate! It is a word which literally means appointing a substitute for oneself. Surrogate advertising also has related meaning. It is one where a product which is different from the main product (parent brand), is advertised and promoted with the same brand name as that of the main product. The concept of surrogate advertising emerged when the government of India banned the advertising liquor and cigarettes through the public media. Now the question is how justifiable is it to ban surrogate advertising when it is perfectly legal to manufacture liquor and cigarettes and sell them freely?

Well, not much. As always, banning anything has an economic angle to it. It is estimated that banning surrogate ads would lead to an annual revenue loss of Rs.200 crores for television channels and Rs.250 crores for print media. This anticipation led private broadcasters to appeal to the government for repealing the ban on surrogate advertising. But the request was turned down.

Though the government has banned surrogate advertising ,it has failed to implement in a full fledged manner .The reason being the parent firms are making it difficult to establish the non-genuineness of the surrogate business.

kingfisher alcohol & mineral water

For instance kingfisher drinking water which are being sold in the market cannot be categorically established as a surrogate product. But the prime objective of marketing these bottled water brands is evidently to promote the parent liquor brands.
So we can say that banning surrogate advertising is a controversial matter. Effective steps must be taken by the government so as to ensure that ban is implemented in way to impart maximum good to society.