According to the Parliamentary ethics, a member should not raise
a debate or an issue which has a conflict of interest ( personal interest). Since Hema Malini is the brand ambassador of Kent which manufactures Reverse Osmosis (RO) based water purifiers, the war cry has already began.Politics apart, I was aghast when I watched Hema Malini sweating in front of a seemingly soft journalist in Headlines Today. If the interviewer was Karan Thapar, Hema Malini would have got a heart attack. The actress is not a politician for sure and she messed up the entire interview
This brand ambassador was asked the following question.
Journalist : Madam, Can you please explain to us what RO system means ?
Hema Malini : mmmmm........ Helloo
Journalist : Madam, Can you please explain to us what RO system means ?
Hema Malini : I don't know the technical details.
Journalist : Madam , You endorse this brand and can you explain..?
Hema Malini : See the advertisement for more details...
( this is not a verbatim transcript)
The scrolling now says : Hema does not know about Reverse Osmosis.
Well..........
When I write about brands and celebrity endorsements, many readers and students ask for my opinion about the importance of celebrity endorsement in a marketing strategy. This episode highlights one of the pitfalls of celebrity endorsements. These occurrences can be rare. But it can happen.
In this case , Reverse Osmosis is the differentiation that Kent tries to project with the brand ambassador and now in a high profile controversy, the brand ambassador admits that she knows little about what she says ( along with her daughters) in the advertisement .
Embarrassing for the brand and for the brand ambassador.
Will it create any problems for the brand?
Only for the short term . Because customers are wise enough to understand that a brand ambassador does not know any thing about the product which he/she endorses. This episode is just another proof.
Will this create problem for Hema Malini ?
I think so. She may have a lot of explanations to do before the ethics committee.
This celebrity goof up is just a warning signal for all marketers. Make sure that your brand ambassador knows a little bit about your product. Atleast the Meaning and Spelling......
Related Brand
Kent RO
Source : Headlines Today
I was aghast in seeing the same interview. I have scarcely seen such a low, unintelligent piece of journalism. Can an MP's right to information be lower than that of all citizens under RI? One Mr Yatchury or one Mr Raj Babbar is not all, as the interviewer falsely claimed at the end. There are avenues for MPs to raise their objections and see what happens! And Yatchury as a Chinese supporter has an equal or greater interest in tarnishing the individual MP involved. Chinese parts involved, hu? Asking for a reduction in tax rate for an industry, in which one has associations, what is wrong about it? unethical? how unethical? I have never recently fumed as this interview progressed while the journalist bulled a meaningless hypothesis on researching. How much research is enough for the journalist? And why is he so worried about hema's next question? About Hema using parliament time when using that time is her main duty and no body else? He says that time is costly. Not asking the question will be a greater wastage my dear journalist! Trying to be an emperor??
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely true. How many brand ambassadors know the technical details of the products they endorse?
ReplyDeletethe interview was ridiculous and the interviewer got me furious. Hema malini was clearly in two fires when she was unable to stiffly give back the doltish questions from an equally doltish interviewer. I wish the news channel hadnt given so much primetime to this episode. I think the interviewer seriously needs a couple or two tips on good journalism. As for Hema, i hope you are more diplomatic in your answers to shoo away these sharks.
A.S
gr8 site....can u let me know whats the difference between a brand ambassodar and a brand endosor
ReplyDeleteHema as a brand ambassoder of this company i hope you have a say, to make the company focus more on the satisfaction of their consumers. the water is good no doubt but their service is PATHETIC. service is not at all prompt,i have had to wait for upto 5 days sometimes(which means no drinking water for 5 days).and parts of machine(eg membrane) which is for Rs 1500 does not last even for 3 months.is it the fault of the company or the middlemn?i am unhappy that i chose KENT RO over the others. my choice had alot to do with who the brand ambassoder is. i am sure there are many people like me. if so should the brand ambassodor not do anything about it?
ReplyDelete