Surrogate advertising is a form of advertising which is used to promote products which are banned or limited from advertising under government regulations, such as cigarettes and alcohol via advertising another product produced by the same company in order to raise brand awareness. A product in a fairly close category may be advertised, such as club soda or mineral water in the case of alcohol, or products in a completely different category, such as music CDs or playing cards. The intention is that when the brand name is mentioned, people will associate it with its main product. In India a large number of companies have used surrogate advertising, including Bacardi Blast music CD's, Bagpiper Club Soda, and Officers Choice playing cards, though the practice has since been banned under Central Consumer Protection Authority guidelines since June 2022.
History
The origin of surrogate advertising can be traced to Britain, where housewives protested against liquor advertisements which appealed to their husbands. Companies circumvented the ban by instead promoting fruit juices and soda under the same brand names.
In Canada, in 1988 tobacco product manufacturers were banned from directly advertising their products, but were permitted to continue sponsoring events, on condition that any promotional material reference only the corporate name of the manufacturer and not the brand names of their products. Tobacco companies got around this rule by incorporating new subsidiaries that matched the names of their key products, which in turn sponsored events such as the du Maurier Ltd. Open tennis tournament. The subsidiaries adopted the respective trade dresses of the products as their corporate colours, which were also used in event imagery, and on various promotional products like T-shirts and towels. This form of marketing was eventually prohibited by the Canadian government effective October 1, 2003.
Surrogate advertising in India
India has held a strong stance on the ban on 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 led to an eventual ban on advertising these products throughout its media channels.
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 restrictions on the advertising of tobacco and liquor until its eventual complete ban in 1995. However, the increase in population saw the sales of tobacco and liquor increase at an exponential rate. Therefore, companies were forced to seek alternative means of advertising, which led to the eventual creation of surrogate advertising in India.
Some of the first evidence of surrogate advertising was seen by the Indian tobacco Company ‘Azad Bidi, which sponsored an international cricket match in India. In India, extensive surveys resulted in similar findings which showed that liquor ads had a direct influence on consumers' purchasing behavior. Soon afterwards, the Cable TV Regulation Act banned liquor and cigarette advertisements; thus, India gradually adopted surrogate advertisements.
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, and drinking glasses with the brand name displayed on these products.
Surrogate advertising mandates a requirement for the product being marketed to have a revenue model associated with it. On 7 October 2022, the consumer affairs ministry of India issued notices to 6 alcohol and tobacco brands due to their surrogate advertising. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has sent notices to Premium Black, Sterling Reserve, Seagram's Imperial Blue, Vimal Pan Masala, Rajnigandha Pan Masala and Kamala Pasand Pan Masala and told them to give answers on violating advertising guidelines. CCPA also asked them to discontinue these ads with immediate effect.