For the uninitiated, here’s a quick recap: Karnataka has appointed actress Tamannaah Bhatia as the brand ambassador for Mysore Sandal Soap. The government explained that this was because of her pan-India appeal given the intent of the brand to market the product beyond Karnataka, across India. However, the announcement has been met with protests from pro-Kannada groups who argue that a Bollywood actress does not represent Karnataka’s cultural ethos.
For more, please see the news report from The Times of India.
It is good logic to assume that a local celebrity from Karnataka would better represent the brand, given its rich heritage rooted in Karnataka.
Kannada actor and producer Ramya made this argument well in a recent guest article in The Times of India.
I partly agree with actor-producer Ramya here – that the appeal of the soap is because its traditional, rooted nature. It is not a generic soap like Lux or Liril. The brand and product entirely hinge on the goodness of sandalwood from Karnataka.
The state is also known as ‘”Gandhada Gudi”, meaning Temple/Abode of Sandalwood. So, geographic and regional/traditional appeal is primary to the product.
From this perspective, Ramya is right – Tamannaah seems like a misfit because she seems ‘alien’ to the ethos that the brand stands for.
It’s like calling pepper rasam as ‘Mulligatawny Soup’ (an anglicized version of ‘MiLagu Thanni’ which literally means, in Tamil, ‘Pepper Water’). Sure, there is merit in making pepper rasam’s name accessible to foreigners if they happen to be the target audience. But, in calling it ‘Mulligatawny Soup’, it does injustice to both audiences – foreigners and the locals who call it rasam. Instead, it stands in a no-man’s land, sounding like gibberish.
Of course, it would be a great choice to pick someone like Deepika Padukone, who checks both boxes – a Kannadiga, and is a nationally known celebrity. Or Rashmika Mandanna or Pooja Hegde. All of them are from Karnataka and have pan-Indian appeal.
But price, availability and current/previous associations with similar products is also a consideration as per the Goverment. Deepika has been associated with soaps like Liril, Fiama Di Wills, and Lux in the past. Tamannaah too has modeled for Lever Ayush’s entire range of Ayurvedic products (not just soap) about 8 years ago, incidentally. The former would also be busier and more expensive than the latter given the relative standing in the Indian film industry.
Ramya also mentions that she and Puneeth Rajkumar embraced the role of brand ambassadors for Karnataka’s Hosa BeLaku LED campaign free of charge. For all we know, if the state Government had requested Yash or Rishab Shetty (both of whom are known pan-India after KGF and Kantara), they may have done the campaign free of cost too, out of state pride. As for picking a male celebrity, Mysore Sandal has a precedent there too – MS Dhoni was a brand face for the product in 2006, though it ended badly for the brand in legal quagmire eventually.
There were quite a few suggestions on social media about Ashika Ranganath too – why can’t she (a prominent Kannada actor with promising body of work in Tamil and Telugu too) be the face of the brand? This is apt IF the brand’s intent is to market the product in specific states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and AP/Telangana alone. But if the intent is to market it nationally, a nationally recognizable star would be more appropriate.
The crux is this: any choice is bound to have detractors and approvers. If they picked Yash, people would ask, why not Rishab? If they picked Deepika, people would ask, why not a pan-India Kannada actor who is in vogue currently, like Rashmika? If it was Rashmika, people would point out to her recent quip about being ‘from Hyderabad‘. If it was Ashika, people could ask, why not Rukmini Vasanth? There is no end to this, really.
But I also said I only ‘partly’ agree with Ramya, not fully. This is because the choice of Tamannaah—or anyone, for that matter—is merely a starting point. We are yet to see how Mysore Sandal soap would use Tamannaah in their communications!
Also, Ramya says, “Injecting a celebrity to endorse it, especially one from a different cultural sphere,
risks making the brand aspirational in a way that alienates its core, diverse user base. It replaces the powerful relatability that fosters loyalty with an unattainable image, inadvertently fuelling resentment“. This is a sweeping exaggeration. There are adequate ways to hire a culturally different celebrity and yet retain the brand’s relatability, if we focus on the story that will be told using that celebrity.
If the soap’s appeal is rooted in tradition and the State’s culture and identity, and the brand ambassador is from outside this milieu, that is not a problem in itself even for pan-Indian advertising.
Why? Because, in advertising, and in communications, what story you tell is more important than whom you pick as a brand ambassador.
Consider a standard soap advertising template that is targeted at women: a woman, presumably a celebrity, gushes about the soap, either on her own, or on cue after someone asks about/appreciates her beautiful/flawless skin.
A few examples:
Pears soap – Nayantara
Santoor soap – Tamil actor Karthi (Varun Dhawan in Hindi)
Lux – Deepika Padukone
Liril – Priety Zinta
Cinthol – Shah Rukh Khan
If the new ad campaign for Mysore Sandal soap featuring Tamannaah Bhatia uses this template, it is bound to create further outrage. Even if the ad’s script makes Tamannaah praise the rich history of the soap, Karnataka’s heritage in sandalwood, among others (which they no doubt would include as part of her dialogs), there would be enough outrage because they would point out that it all feels shallow and fake. That is, if Deepika Padukone, Rashmika Mandanna, or Pooja Hegde mouth the same platitudes about the soap’s history and legacy, it may seem a bit/lot more believable given that they are from the state.
So, the default soap advertising template would not be productive or meaningful. And this is the cause for the outrage, assuming that the resultant marketing narrative would end up seeming fake, and doing injustice to the brand’s legacy.
But, can an alternative marketing narrative do justice to both Tamannah’s choice and the brand’s legacy? Of course.
Consider the idea that the narrative need not project Tamannah as a local person at all! Why not show her obviously as an ‘outsider’? Why not show her as a visitor to Karnataka who is exploring the state’s rich heritage and culture? Why not show her being visibly and obviously impressed with how the soap is made, its top quality ingredients, its percentage of sandalwood in composition, and being made aware of how effective sandalwood is to the skin?
The narrative then is about Tamannah, the pan-Indian Bollywood star—the proverbial ‘outsider’ to Karnataka—discovering the magic of sandalwood and Mysore Sandal soap, and being impressed with it. And she asks viewers (more ‘outsiders’; that is, people outside the state) to consider the soap for their own flawless skin given the legacy of sandalwood’s effect on skin. Plus, talk about the soap being one of the highest quality/grade soaps in India, with a TFM of 80%!
This narrative stays true to everything and everyone: the soap and the state are represented accurately with appropriate cultural heft, while Tamannah’s curiosity as an outsider powers her quest for a skin solution.
The same narrative could be used when the soap goes international too, as the Government has suggested that they may even sign up a Hollywood actor at that time.
Is there a precedent for this kind of narrative? That is, a brand/entity using a non-local celebrity and making that celebrity explore the wonders of their product/service as an ‘outsider’ (and not talking about it with knowledge as a ‘local’) in marketing?
Yes, there is. A good example is the ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ Gujarat tourism campaign by O&M featuring Amitabh Bachchan, who is most definitely not a Gujarati. And yet, he was the voice who took us, non-Gujaratis, on a trip as he explored assorted cities and locations in Gujarat.
The point of this narrative is to find a universally (or nationally) recognizable celebrity and make that person be the voice of curiosity and wonder for the product/service. For example, consider an ad campaign for Kerala Tourism featuring Richard Gere as an international tourist to the state exploring and marveling at the many wonders it has to offer.
There is no reason such a narrative cannot be used for Mysore Sandal soaps featuring Tamannah Bhatia.
If the makers of Mysore Sandal soap do not use such a narrative and use a standardized template, then I’d join the chorus of annoyed outrage myself 🙂