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COMMENT
When faces are not billboards
A. SRIVATHSAN
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Do endorsements by actors contribute to brand value of products?
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What matters in such displays is Rajinikanth; not what his image is tagged on to. Rajinikanth is the product and the image. So is Kamal HasSan.
Photo: M. Vedhan
Free circulation: Some stars seem to believe in the democratisation of their image.
I wore my sneakers but I’m not a sneak/My Adidas cuts the sand of a foreign land…/…we make a good team my Adidas and me/We get around together, rhyme forever/and we won’t be mad when worn in bad weather/My Adidas My Adidas My Adidas.
“My Adidas”, Run-D.M.C
In 1986, Run-DMC, the legendary hip hop group, converted their choice of sneakers into a song. At that cathartic moment, little did they realise that their sound byte mattered more than even the best-orchestrated endorsement. What followed, as they say, is legend.
Run-DMC got their own line of sneakers made by Adidas and the counterculture audience gulped it. Prejudices may hold against hip-hop and even unsympathetically stereotype and associate it with violence and drugs. But it hardly matters to advertisers.
Celebrity logic
Celebrity endorsements make no exception between a mainstream star and a rap group. The logic is: more the number of fans, the louder the sound of the cash register. Wider the circulation of their images; wealthier the endorsement. In this stream of logic, using film celebrities as marketing mascots in India seems only logical.
Neither worms in chocolate nor pesticides in drink matter to the movie stars. Bigger their screen presence; more the star power and fatter the pay cheque. At least that is the story line between advertising agencies and Indian actors. Advertisers believe that whenever celebrities, particularly actors, endorse, the recall value of the advertisement is enhanced and the brand value is built. Going by the numbers, North Indian actors are omnipresent. There are hardly any products left unendorsed between Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. The younger actors take what is left over. Even “thinking” actors like Aamir Khan are part of the endorsement circuit. Business Line reports that earnings can go as high as Rs.20 crores as in the case Hrithik Roshan in 2001. Compared to this, Tamil actors are relatively small timers in celebrity endorsements.
Conspicuously absent
Amid this riot of endorsements, two faces are conspicuously absent. In spite of their huge fan following, success and long standing in film industry, Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth have always stayed away from endorsements. This is intriguing given the popular perception that Tamil Nadu is film crazy and the regional appeal of these two actors. Refusing to cash in on their popularity looks like an irrational decision.
Every advertiser in South India would dream to have Rajinikanth or Kamal Hassan endorse any product. But the two have consistently stayed away from product endorsements. This cannot be explained away as a simple personal choice. It has much more to do than warding off the seduction of easy money. It is certainly not the fear of overexposure; at least not for these two.
There is not possibly a single village or town in Tamil Nadu that does not have a Rajni picture on the name boards of its shops or walls. One often sees Rajni smile from the name board of a tea shop, sliding his sunglasses on top of a tailor shop and ferociously staring at the vehicles that follow an auto rickshaw. Notebooks too carry his picture on the cover. None of this is an endorsement. No one pays Rajni nor does he seem to demand money. So what does this free use of image amount to?
Advertisements are class-affiliated. They are either mass or class kinds. They are either about the upwardly mobile or the homebound middle class. Product advertisements have nothing to do with the poor. By refusing to endorse products, these two actors clearly do not want to be part of any hierarchical depiction of their constituency.
Benefits
In contrast, the free circulation of their images ensures and cuts across the class divisions. They appear to believe in the democratisation of their image. This position is politically nuanced and culturally well tuned. Such a decision pays and brings in its own benefits. The frequent and free use of images by the fans makes the point clear, that what matters in such displays is Rajinikanth and not what his image is tagged on to. Rajinikanth is the product and he is the image. So is Kamal Hassan.
The only time Rajinikanth attempted to control the circulation of his image was when his film “Baba” was released in 2002. It was reported that he took exception to a bidi manufacturer who put up his image with the signature turban on the hoarding. Copyright notices were issued restricting the use of his pictures. The issue was as quickly dropped as it was raised. The two actors well understand that such acts are not to be perceived as image poaching but have got more to do with adulation. It is not the product or shop that is projected in the process. It is Rajni who is endorsed.
This provides a lesson or two for Harry Potters who object to innocent and celebrative use of their images. To object to a pooja pandal fashioned as Hogwarts castle is to miss the point.
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