Surrogate advertising refers to advertising products made by the same company as a banned product, like liquor, to indirectly advertise the banned product. The Indian government banned television advertisements for liquor brands McDowell's No. 1 and Gilbey's Green Label in 2002. This was controversial as liquor producers argued it would lower their sales and tax revenue. However, surrogate ads are misleading and promote underage drinking. While the liquor industry brings in tax revenue, such indirect ads should be banned as they circumvent direct advertising restrictions and harm society.

1. By-
Mithisar Basumatary
PRESENTATION ON:
Banning Surrogate Liquor Advertising

2. What is Advertising?
Advertising is any paid form of non personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services
by an identified sponsor. It may be in the form of-
Print
Broadcast
Outdoor
Celebrity
Surrogate

3. What is Surrogate Advertising?
Definition:-
In simple words when we advertise a product such as
liquor or cigarettes that is banned from being
advertised, by using another product (with the same
name ) such as audio cds by the name of Bacardi blast,
etc.

4. Type of surrogate advertising:
TV commercials that mention a
product for which a company is not
known.
Sponsoring events and sporting
teams is another example of this
advertising.
Public service announcements also
are commonly used to advertise
these products.

5. How Surrogate Advertisements are
done?
It is done by complementary products such as
Soda, bottled drinking water, fruit juice, etc.
Other commodity advertised includes-Music CDs,
sports goods of the same brand, etc.

6. Brand Communicating product Main Product Category
Bagpiper Water and soda, cassettes, CDs Whisky
McDowell's Water and soda Whisky
Teachers Bravery awards Whisky
Kingfisher Calendars and mineral water Beer
Johny walker Soda Whisky
Royal challenge Golf accessories and mineral water Whisky
Bacardi Cassettes and CDs Rum
Smirnoff, Aristocrat Apple juice Vodka
Haywards 5000 Darting kids Beer
AC Black Apple juice Whisky
About Surrogate advertising brands in India:

7. Banning Liquor Advertisements
In June 2002, the Information and
Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry of
India ordered leading television
(TV) broadcasters to ban the
telecast of two surrogate ads of
liquor brands:
1)McDowell's No. 1 .
2)Gilbey's Green Label.

8. The channels were asked to adhere
strictly to the Cable Television
Regulation Act 1995 (Cable TV Act,
1995)
Zee and STAR stopped telecasting
the advertisements.
Aaj Tak and Sony soon followed the
suit.
Banning Liquor Advertisements(cont.)

9. The Indian Liquor Industry
The Indian liquor industry can be divided into two
broad segments-
2. Country-made liquor:
• Country-made liquor comprises
alcoholic beverages made by
local breweries.
• Country-made liquor was
consumed by the economically
backward classes breweries.
1. Indian Made Foreign Liquor:
• IMFL comprises alcoholic
beverages that were developed
abroad but are being made in
India.
• IMFL was consumed by the
middle and upper classes of
society.

10. The Indian Liquor Industry(cont.)
In India, 40-50% of all males and 1% of all females
consumed alcohol.
Almost 62% of the drinkers could be classified as
light drinkers (i.e. social drinkers)
29% percent as moderate drinkers,
about 9% as hard drinkers

11. The Indian Liquor Industry(cont.)
Distribution of Liquor-
The distribution of liquor was also controlled in
many states through :
Auction system.
The open-market system.
Government-controlled system.

12. Why do we need to ban Surrogate
advertisements ?
Such advertisement create social trends, dictating
how people think and act.
Liquor Advertisement promotes underage drinking.
It is harming the society a lot because children cannot
distinguish between the banned products and the
advertised product.
It keeps on reminding consumers about the banned
products indirectly.

13. The banning of surrogate advertisements for liquor
brands became a very controversial and sensitive
issue.
Liquor producers felt that the government allowed
them to do business but not in a profitable manner
therefore affected their sales.
 Liquor companies argued that the ban would severely
affect the sales and it will lower the tax because they
were the highest taxed sectors of the Indian economy.
The Debate

14. What Lies Ahead?
In August 2002, broadcasting industry sources revealed
measures for self-regulation and monitoring surrogate
brands.
The broadcasters who were members of the IBF,
announced that they would come up with an advertising
code specific to surrogate advertising.
Indian Broadcasting Foundation setup a sub-
committee

15.  Surrogate advertisements are not only misleading, but
also false and dishonest in many cases.
 This method is used by the corporates because of the
ambiguous laws .
As tobacco and liquor business are legislated yet
restricted business in India and provides huge
revenue to government.
Conclusion