Surrogate Advertising : Marketing Through Disguise

What is Surrogate Marketing?

Surrogate is a word that means "substitute," and surrogate marketing does exactly that by using a product's brand image to promote another product from the same brand.

These businesses go out of their way to develop innovative strategies to attract as much attention from consumers as possible and to communicate effectively in order to sell a product, service, or idea that they would not be able to sell otherwise.

How and why this originated?

It all started in the United Kingdom. Protests by housewives result in a prohibition on the promotion of alcoholic beverages. They objected to the fact that seeing liquor advertisements makes their husbands more inclined to consume it. The main concern was the impact of such advertisements on the health of consumers. As a result, products such as liquor, tobacco, and cigarettes were eventually prohibited. The ban only applies to the marketing of such products, not their production or sale. Marketers wanted to increase sales, so they began selling such products under the name of other items.

Why is marketing "banned" on these products?

The short answer is that these products are harmful to your health and well-being. They are harmful to humans, causing cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and stroke when consumed. As a result, increasing the promotion of such products is not considered an ethical marketing practice because its consumers may suffer from serious health problems or even die as a result. Despite the restrictions, the products are in high demand in the market because consumers are addicted to them, and thus there is no prohibition on their consumption.

Why Do Companies Use Surrogate Advertising?

Surrogate advertising has recently gained popularity and is increasingly being utilized as a marketing tactic to covertly advertise prohibited goods. To communicate the true product to the target audience, it essentially uses a substitute product.

Following is a list of the top 5 reasons why businesses employ surrogate advertising to market their goods:

1. To get around a restriction on direct product marketing,

2. To keep brands fresh in consumers' eye

3. To promote the brand's image of social responsibility

4. To promote less mainstream goods via ancillary brands or goods

5. To promote goods that generate significant amounts of revenue, such as alcohol, cigarettes, and tobacco.

Pros:

1. It enables businesses to profit from things that are illegal.

2. It implicitly constantly alerting customers about the things that are prohibited.

3. The prospect of competition from new players is reduced if nobody can promote.

Cons:

1. It can defeat the government's prohibition against advertising dangerous products.

2. There is extremely little information and awareness of surrogate marketing.

3. It may have a detrimental effect on society by endorsing harmful products.

DIFFERENT STRATEGIES

Marketing a product indirectly is known as surrogate marketing, and it is not easy. Brands use a variety of techniques to do this, some of which are as follows:

1. Promotion By Extension - Brand extension is the promotion of new items using a well-known brand name. Several corporations nowadays use brand extension in response to a ban on advertising a certain product category. For example, Kingfisher has marketed everything from soda to calendars to airlines under the same brand.

2. Promotion By Association - Promotion through association focuses on a company's marketing strategy and generates the impression in the minds of buyers that the brand is for courageous people. In general, celebrities endorse such companies to assist reflect the ideals that a brand aims to convey. For example, renowned Bollywood actor Shatrugan Sinha appeared in a Bagpiper club soda advertisement to promote the brand.

3. Promotion Through TV Commercials - Many businesses produce TV ads nowadays, although the majority of them directly promote a product. However, in the case of specific items, such as alcohol and cigarettes, firms may be prohibited from doing so. As a result, they make advertising that masquerade an item as something other than the brand's standard offering. That is, they adopt surrogate television advertising. A corporation known for producing alcohol, for example, may create a commercial promoting a new soda.

4. Promotion Through Events And Sponsorships - Events and sponsorships are another kind of surrogate advertising. The corporation leaves its logo someplace, such as on an event wall or the outside boundary of a sporting event, in this sort of advertising. This strategy, in turn, imprints the brand's image on the brains of customers.Royal Stag, for example, owned an IPL franchise and supported Coke Studio performances to promote their brand.

5. Promotion Through Public Service Announcement - Public service announcements (PSAs) are a popular method of advertising items. Most items on the market today are prohibited by surrogate advertising rules and are related with a variety of health dangers. As a result, firms may raise awareness about the dangers of smoking by using colourful brand emblems in their advertising. For example, a firm can raise awareness about the dangers of smoking while also attracting customers by drawing attention to its brand.

Different industries

Surrogate Advertising In Liquor Industry - Today's liquor industry deliberately blurs the line between products by advertising "old wine" in a "new bottle." In other words, companies offer alcoholic beverages disguised as soda, fruit juice, and cocktail mixers. Imperial Blue's series of adverts on music CDs to promote their whisky brand in India, where advertising an alcoholic product is prohibited, is an example of this. This category includes well-known brands such as Bagpiper soda, cassettes and CDs, Royal Challenge, and Kingfisher.

Surrogate Advertising In Tobacco Industry - Many firms have softly targeted customers in recent years by marketing tobacco-based goods disguised as pan masala and hookah replacements. For example, Pierce Brosnan, the renowned actor who played James Bond's character, sponsored Pan Bahar, a pan masala brand, by becoming its brand ambassador. This category includes well-known brands such as Manikchand Group, Dharampal Satyapal Limited, and Kothari Products Limited.

Surrogate Advertising In Cannabis Industry - Cannabis marketing is evolving at a rapid pace. Most marijuana companies market their weed-infused products as medicines. This category includes well-known brands such as ArcView and GW Pharmaceuticals.

 

Ethical Issues and regulations regarding Surrogate Marketing

Surrogate advertising is not ethically correct and it should not be allowed. It is advertising for a brand whose advertising is legally not allowed and another brand is created to get around the law and that brand is advertised to keep the brand in the public mind.Three layers of law, none works -
Industry experts point out that India has a triple layer prohibition:

1) Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act,1995

2) Cigarettes And Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition Of Advertisement And Regulation Of Trade And Commerce, Production, Supply And Distribution) Act, 2003.

3) ASCI code.

All prohibit "Tobacco and liquor products'' ads by both direct and indirect means. None of the three works though.

Should surrogate marketing be allowed?

The company can not just promote new products (CD’s , mineral water), but at the same time also attach the original brand. Surrogate advertising should not be allowed. Tobacco and liquor banners make use of this phenomenon extensively and try to lure the public. The whole point of banning the product was not the banner but the harm it causes to public and viewers. Hence placing it under the same banner for a different product makes no sense. The banners should concentrate more on the consequences of the products (like tobacco etc) rather than promoting them for a different product.

Is this the end of Surrogate Marketing?

Since advertising has been banned in Mass Media, tobacco and liquor companies have resorted to surrogate advertising tactics to keep their brands alive in the minds of consumers. The tobacco and liquor lobbies are too strong in India. They are the ones which fund political parties. Hence, they get away despite flouting the norms openly. Now, they are the sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well. Therefore it is a difficult task to end the use of surrogate marketing techniques by these big players. Surrogate marketing can't be tackled for the good unless the compliance of law is looked upon properly thus there is no expected end to surrogate marketing in the near future.