CHENNAI: There is something fascinating about how acting for a 30-second commercial and a few photo-shoots earns an A-lister a thousand lakh rupees. But so they do and the reason lies in a most fickle human trait — adoration. With one of the most-expensive celebrity brands coming under attack this week after Aamir Khan’s frank outpouring of uncertainty, it is the ephemeral character of this lucrative and easily exploited trait, and its opposite, that is set to serve the star in good stead.
According to experts and insiders in the branding and advertising circles, Aamir is in no danger of seeing his impressive brand value taking any significant or prolonged downturn. Despite SnapDeal, one of the brands which he endorses, coming under attack from a vocal and offended section of the populace. First, because the controversy that the star finds himself in is not as serious as some that his contemporaries have brought upon themselves, and second, because “public memory is short-lived”.
“You have to understand that the section of people who are attacking him and his opinion are not the majority. They are only the loud, but miniscule, minority,” pointed out leading ad guru Prahlad Kakkar. “The issue is polarised and has been blown out of proportion. Consider this. For every one person who uninstalls SnapDeal’s app, there would be 50 who would be adding it,” he said. Kakkar may well be right as far as the alleged negative impact that the anti-Aamir campaign may have had on SnapDeal.
The e-commerce firm’s app saw an initial flurry of one-star ratings on Google Play and a mild down-rating, but the app has gone up in the rankings by four places - from 28 on November 23, when Aamir made his statement, to 24 currently. SnapDeal has done no more than face the onslaught and distance itself from Aamir’s statement. There has been no talk of terminating the contract.
“All publicity is good publicity,” reiterated Kakkar. “No brand will tell you this but in most cases, where there isn’t a strong negative perception created, the brand is laughing all the way to the bank,” he said.
The same is not true, however, for instances where the impact and perception created is highly negative. Tiger Woods’ infidelity scandal, Micheal Jackson and allegations of pedophilia and closer to home - Salman Khan’s hit-and-run, all saw brands instantly shift to damage control mode. All three were dropped “like a hot potato” from most of the brands they endorsed - Woods from as many as six, Micheal Jackson from almost every brand he endorsed and Salman from the Thums Up commercials. Even Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev were dropped by brands after being implicated in the match-fixing scandal of the 1990s.
“These are all instances of brand ambassadors being associated with very negative acts. In these cases, brands evaluate the damage and take decisions. These were very negative and the reactions were quick. In most cases, there is a bit of time given to see whether the controversy is shortlived,” said Varun Gupta, managing director of valuation firm Duff and Phelps India.
Which brings us to the second reason why experts say Aamir’s stock won’t see any significant decline. People have short memories. The point in case that every industry insider resorts to is of former Thums Up pin-up boy Salman Khan. Witnessing a huge downturn in popularity and brand value at the height of the hit-and-run case, Salman is back to being one of the highest-paid endorsers in the country. Gupta admits that the star has actually gone up in the brand value rankings since 2014, when the firm released its first such report. Salman charges anywhere in the range of `6 crore for a day of his time, say industry insiders.
“He has become a very positive and feel-good person to be associated with and it reflects in his earnings from endorsements. And though Shah Rukh Khan had never been shy of controversy he is arguably the highest earner as far as endorsements are concerned. Brand value is a very long-term thing, small controversies and hiccups do not have much of an effect,” said Gupta.