Introduction
‘Surrogate’ means ‘Substitute’ or ‘Duplicate’ and ‘Surrogate Advertising’ means advertising that involves ‘duplicity’ of the original product or brand. In technical words, ‘Surrogate Advertising is advertising that duplicates the brand image of one product to promote another product of the same brand. The surrogate may either resemble the original product or can be a different product or surrogate altogether. Companies resort to this type of advertisement when their primary products are prohibited to be sold out publicly. The prohibited products in India are tobacco, cigarette, liquor, narcotics, pan masala and online gambling, etc. that have an adverse effect on a healthy society. But, the companies of such products need to sell them for revenue, and ‘surrogate advertising’ gives them leeway to sell such products. We have many examples such as liquors being sold under the brand name ‘Kingfisher’, which promotes everything ranging from bottled water to soda. Plain pan masala that does not contain tobacco can be advertised on television, even though it contains betel nut which is a known addictive. Amitabh Bacchan, Akshay Kumar, and Shahrukh Khan did surrogate advertising of ‘Pan masala’ to promote gutkha indeed. But, after a lot of trolls on social media, Amitabh Bacchan, and Akshay Kumar canceled the contract with the company.
Government’s Preventive Measures Keeping in mind the adverse effect of tobacco, cigarettes, liquors, narcotics, pan masala, etc., especially on the teenagers of the country, various government Acts and Bodies have made them prohibited. During the COVID-19 Pandemic……