Red Label is a tea leaves brand under Hindustan Unilever which is an Indian subsidiary of the Unilever brand. Red Label has come up with many creative ads over the period and its strategic positioning of itself as a healthy tea has made it one of the top choices of Indian households and has a good recall value. Occasionally, brands come up with advertisements that are designed to build goodwill rather than promotional activities. Red Label Kumbh Mela ad was designed with similar intent to highlight an unpleasant social scenario, this ad caused controversy across the country, inviting critical remarks from very prominent figures of the nation.

The red label controversy was because of the Kumbh Mela advertisement aired by the brand. The ad was set in the Kumbh Mela which is the largest religious gathering in India, it showed a man who came to attend the fair with his old father with the intent to leave him in the crowd, the man had an expression of unwillingness before he convinces his father to follow him to a more crowded location of the fair, the father being an innocent old devotee followed his son who slipped off his hand and rushes outside the crowd leaving him stranded. The son however was not happy with his act and had an expression of guilt, his guilt made him return to his father when he saw a young father-son pair, who were enjoying the fair and the father was suggesting to his son tieing their hands together to prevent getting lost in the crowd. He then looked for his father who was patiently waiting for him with a cup of tea for them to share.

The ad caused public outrage and the hashtags of boycott red label in India trended across social media platforms. The effect was also on the parent brand of Hindustan Unilever with the trend of boycotting HUL. Prominent religious leaders and businessmen also criticized the brand’s poor idea and execution of the advertisement, while baba Ramdev called out the brand for exploiting emotions for commercial benefit, the senior category head of Parle India pointed out the ad as ‘poor execution’ and suggested the ‘marketers be extra cautious’. HUL apologized for the hurt of sentiments and explained their data-inspired point of view for the ad. The ad caused negative publicity for the brand through coverage from media channels like India Today, CNBC, etc.

What were the elements that caused the ad to misfire:

• Negative Narrative

The ad highlighted the negative aspect of a sensitive religious gathering. It showed that the Kumbh Mela was used by many people to abandon their parents which was taken as an offense by many people as it’s a sacred religious gathering where the devotees accompany their parents. When highlighting a social issue it needs to be ensured that the narrative is not expressed as negative to the related matter, in this case, the Kumbh celebration. The take of the advertisement as understood by the audience was criticism of a sacred gathering causing the outburst. Try to keep the communication direct and not establish an unwilling link. 

• Timing of the ad

The ad was released 10 days before Kumbh when the religious excitement was at its peak, which made people subject to selective perception and not understand the true message of the ad. Peak celebration moments especially ones that are rare like Kumbh which happens once in 12 every year, should be used for moment marketing. CSR advertisements need to be on time when people are involved in their daily course of life. 

• Improper format and screen time distribution

Both positive and negative aspects of the gathering needed to be given equal space on the screen for the message to be well received and prevent one emotion from overshadowing the other. In this ad, there was very little screen time dedicated to the emotional parental bond, by the young father-son duo, which led the negative emotion of the ad to overshadow the entirety

Elements of change for better delivery: 

• Promoting positive behaviour:

There are two ways to promote social change, one can be by criticizing negative behaviour and the other is by highlighting and appreciating positive behaviour. The latter is proved to be more effective due to the simultaneous use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, where people feel good about doing the right thing and also receive external validation for their behaviour. In this scenario, the ad could have highlighted children taking leave from work to fulfill their parents’ wish of visiting the Kumbh Mela and having a good family time with the tea being a bonding element. 

• A mixture of narrative: 

Using mixed narrative is another way of promoting social change, where both positive and negative behaviour is shown equally on the screen and letting the audience decide their stand by slightly inclining the positive element to control subjective interpretation. In the Red Label Kumbh Mela ad, an alternative script could be where the man meets his friend in the celebration who has also come with his father, and how by seeing the love and bond between his friend and his father, he feels guilty of his thought and proceeds to take care of his father in the crowded gathering. In this way, both positive and negative narratives will have equal screen share and will be more aligned with the brand message by showing the parental bond does not get weak with time. 

It’s important to analyze your narrative and timing to make sure it’s in alignment with your marketing objective.