Days after his name was in the news as potential president of India, megastar Amitabh Bachchan is back in the news, this time for the wrong reasons. His name, along with that of his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, has cropped up in the Panama Papers. These papers are a massive tranche of 11.5 million documents dating back to the 1970s that contain details of over 2 lakh offshore companies, allegedly shell companies, incorporated in tax havens by the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca. The firm has put out a statement pointing out that “Incorporating companies is the normal activity of lawyers and agents around the world”, and that tax evasion is different from tax avoidance, which is perfectly legal.
Bachchan, on his part, denied being connected with any of the companies the Panama Papers are associating him with, and claimed his name may have been misused. But will that be enough to prevent damage to his brand image
Brand Bachchan is one of the most powerful marketing forces in the country. Big B is often referred to as the lord of endorsements — he reportedly charges an endorsement fee of '2.5 to 3 crores a day. His brand value is estimated at over '700 crores. Will this controversy affect his brand appeal We saw Aamir Khan’s name withdrawn from Incredible India following the statements he made that were labelled “anti-national”. So is brand Bachchan in troubled waters
Says Amer Jaleel, Chairman, and CCO, Mullen Lintas - Lowe Lintas, that works with Amitabh on Tanishq and ICICI among other brands, “If there is news of controversy in the press, it definitely creates a fogginess around the person concerned. But it can only have a long-term effect if the allegations or rumours are proven true. That’s when tough questions crop up like they did in the case of Maria Sharapova and Tiger Woods. That’s when celebrity contracts come under question, agencies and brands would think twice before running the campaigns they are a part of. But there could another angle to it as well. It may renew the interest of the target audience, as the celebrity in question is already in the news, so their chances of being seen in advertisements increases.-" However, public perception of a celebrity also swings with changing tides and it could only be a matter of time before he regains the trust of the people.
“Life is full of little googlies, and the lives of celebrities unfortunately, are no different. They’re loved one second, passionately hated the next. Just like advertising the success of a product is only as good as the product really is. Aamir Khan will find himself another ‘incredible’ initiative to be associated with. Mr Bachchan will continue to be India’s Shahenshah,” explains Bodhisatwa Dasgupta, Senior Creative Director at JWT, who have also worked with Amitabh.
Amer also believes the same, and adds, “There would be another angle to it as well. It may renew the interest as they are already in the news and their chances of being seen in the advertisement increases.”
Abhijeet Avasthi, formerly associated with O & M, worked on a TB treatment campaign with Big B for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in 2015. Like Amer, he too feels rumours can do little damage to one’s brand value. Abhijeet says, “Plain rumours can do nothing to change the brand value of an established celebrity. In actuality if the episodes are really negative, the companies do try to protect themselves and as a precautionary measure dissociate themselves from the stars. India is puzzling at some levels — we have had celebrities who have been embroiled in controversies and have been proven guilty but are still loved. There is a pedigree of personalities in India who are above all these floating rumours. There is so much love and respect for them that unless a misdemeanour is proven beyond doubt, nothing can dent their brand value.”
Ad man Prahlad Kakkar has a different take on the matter. He says, “I think it definitely affects the brand value. People have a certain kind of image in their minds, and if that is not met out practically the value suffers. Stashing and storing black money in foreign accounts was a deed done only by politicians and rumours like these make them fall in that league and these activities are considered to be anti-national. This is not what people expect out of entrepreneurs but only politicians. If these are just rumours, then nothing changes until they are proven.”
