The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent action against actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff has brought an old advertising problem back into sharp focus: when does a legal brand extension become a surrogate for a prohibited product?

The FDA issued show-cause notices to the three actors over a Vimal Elaichi advertisement, alleging that the campaign creates an association with Vimal Pan Masala, which is prohibited in Maharashtra.

Surrogate advertising has long worked by shifting the conversation away from the restricted product and towards the lifestyle, aspiration and cultural world surrounding the brand. As the advertising industry itself has evolved, that strategy has moved from club soda and music CDs to festivals, sponsorships, social media and celebrity partnerships. The product may disappear from the frame; the brand, however, remains firmly in the consumer’s mind.

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So where does advertising end and indirect brand promotion begin?

“Surrogate advertising is essentially deceptive and unethical. Brands have found a legal loophole to exercise a subliminal campaign on consumers. Because of its grey area, it needs to be very sophisticated and aspirational. The consumer is aware that the advertiser has crossed an ethical line and that an alcoholic brand is being pushed through a surrogate non-alcoholic product,” says Prahlad Kakar, veteran ad filmmaker, founder and director of Genesis Film Production.

Surrogate advertising serves a simple purpose of brands navigating ad bans and giving them a medium to keep their established brand alive. “Neither is the brand trying to create desirability for their ‘club soda’, nor is the consumer blind to the real subtext. That being said, surrogate advertising may protect minors who might stumble upon the campaigns. Adults, on the other hand, are fully responsible, discerning enough to make their choices and do what they want,” says Kopal Naithani, ad-filmmaker, founder Superfly Films, who has been on the Cannes Lions jury.

Why do surrogate campaigns become glamorous and aspirational? Does the forbidden nature of the underlying product add to that appeal?

“The essence of the advertising has to be appealing and aspirational for it to be effective to a consumer who realises it is unethical. All forbidden fruits are essentially highly tempting because of the curiosity of the consumer to find out why and what is so bad about it and why it should be banned; Especially if they already indulge in consuming the brand,” says Kakar.

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Surrogate advertising becomes “cult” when the workaround becomes bigger: the product disappears, but the brand’s music, celebrities, lifestyle and attitude remain embedded in popular culture. “This depends entirely on the subliminal content of the communication; whether it uses VIPs or stars, reflects sophistication and lifestyle and sometimes built-in attitude and success stories. It is mainly aimed at entry level young consumers who are highly impressionable. The unethical stand of the brand does not make it ambiguous; it just makes it highly desirable and defiant, which goes well with the young anti-establishment crowd,” says Kakar.

Why do corporates choose surrogate advertising?

Experts tell you that this method combines the primary objective of brand recall with maintaining visibility, creating aspiration, protecting market share and keeping the parent brand culturally relevant. “Corporates sought surrogate advertising even though they know it is unethical and not kosher because of all these reasons,” says Kakar.

In the end, this has emerged as an effective marketing tool. “A perfume is just scented liquid in a bottle but storytelling has turned it into a symbol of status, desire, and identity. The surrogate campaign borrows all that built-in intrigue, edge and aura from the parent product, carrying that straight into its storytelling,” says Naithani.

Back in the day, when alcohol was banned from advertising, some brands immediately pivoted to making CDs with a party playlist. “This ensured that the brand world they had created didn’t change. Some brands advertised club soda or water but the ads would look all the same, sans the alcohol. Each brand found a different emotion, a different lifestyle to promote. McDowell’s No. 1 pushed the envelope on friendship with their ‘Mera No. 1 Yaar’ and Kingfisher amped up the lifestyle angle with ‘The King of Good Times’ campaigns,” adds Naithani.

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Can regulation stop a whisky bottle from appearing in an ad, but stop the brand from being associated with success, nightlife, music and aspiration?

The problem, according to Kakar, essentially lies with the contradiction in the rules and a legal loophole that is open for brands to promote themselves. “As long as this hypocrisy exists with policy makers, it is going to be very difficult to regulate surrogate advertising. If there was such an issue of public health, then outright ban the product or leave it to the discretion of the consumer to exercise his choice after duly educating him about its downside. The new product has been created especially to take advantage of the loophole in the law and always as an afterthought. The flaw is essentially in the policy. If the product is bad for you, then ban it but do not pussyfoot around trying to ban only the advertising,” explains Kakar.

Do bans actually make some brands cooler?

Surrogate campaigns will always have an appeal to a certain kind of consumer regardless of the ethical position of the advertising. “It has taken on a sophisticated avatar and created subliminal feelings of attitude, anti-establishment success, guts and aspiration.

By banning the promotion of alcohol and tobacco brands on organised media is only going to drive the campaigning underground. Anyway, Gen-Z is consuming content from social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. They consume from multiple platforms and then decide on the choices that they have and whether it is good or bad for them,” says Kakar.

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Today, surrogate advertising has extended to sponsoring music festivals, promoting artists or sports leagues and become a potent piece of communication. “The brand then becomes not just memorable but culturally relevant. It is now about partnering with powerful voices within the aspirational lifestyle. By collaborating with rap artists, headlining rock concerts, or partnering with iconic stars, brands become representative of a larger cultural movement, not just a product,” says Naithani.