Marketing Ethics

Recently, there has been a huge uproar about the Aditya Birla Group “taking advantage” of cricketer, Yuvraj Singh’s medical condition to make money through their TV commercial ad campaign for Birla Sun Life Insurance brand. This has raised a very important question, the question about ethics in advertising. How far should an organization be allowed to market their product to the consumer before their strategy is deemed unethical?

Before we look into the details of this situation and create an opinion, let’s look at some facts:

September, 2011

Yuvi shoots for the Birla Sun Life Insurance Ad in Mumbai. Here is the ad:

  Birla Sun Life Insurance Commercial

Mid January, 2012

Yuvi wants to change a few lines in the commercial. He insists that the word ‘injury’ in the original ad be changed to ‘health problems’.

January 30, 2012

The ad goes live on national television for the first time.

January 31, 2012

Yuvi tweets that he is looking forward to the ad and is looking to return to form.

Early February 2012

The entire country and cricket fans across the world find out that Yuvraj Singh has been detected with lung cancer. His tumor has been diagnosed as very serious but curable and that he will be flying to the U.S. to get further treatment.

Mid February 2012

The Birla Sun Life Insurance ad starts getting aired with increased frequency, almost touching once every 10 minutes on certain TV channels.

As a reaction to the series of events above, several critics lashed out at the Birla insurance brand for “cashing in on the player’s illness” and “highlighting their own marketing message when somebody is down”. On the other hand, Ajay Kakkar, Chief Marketing Officer, of the Aditya Birla Group released a statement saying that the ad was in the right spirit and that his company will not withdraw it. He claimed that Yuvraj Singh told two journalists that this ad is no longer a commercial but it is his life.

So, who is right? And the big question is: is it really ethical for Aditya Birla Group to continue to run this commercial keeping in mind Yuvraj Singh’s critical health?

Looking at the situation from a wide perspective, I can say that just like there is two sides to every coin, there is two genuine and totally contrast opinions to this controversy. However, I personally feel that ethics in this situation totally relies not on how the critics, the Aditya Birla group or even cricket fans across the world feel about the commercial. It depends on how Yuvraj Singh himself feels about the commercial.

If Yuvi believes that the company is taking undue advantage of his health problem, he should put in a request to the company to withdraw the ad or even decrease the frequency of its airing. At that point, if the company refuses to honor his request, it would be totally unethical on their part.

However, if Yuvi truly feels happy about a brand representing the story of his life and wants to use it as an opportunity to send out a thought provoking message to people around the world and in the process, become an inspiration in their lives; I believe the airing of the commercial as well as its frequency is absolutely ethical.

Think for a minute about Lance Armstrong. When Lance was fighting against cancer, he chose to become a brand ambassador for Nike to share his story with others. Millions followed him and wore the yellow Livestrong bands and if anything, the campaign helped in increasing awareness and providing courage and support to several people fighting cancer across the world. Was that ethical?

I mean Yuvraj took money for the commercial and given his own brand name, I am sure he was paid enough. We can only make unsure judgments about whether or not he himself was aware of his tumor at the time he shot for the ad. So, from a business point of view, there is nothing unethical about airing an ad that Yuvraj voluntarily shot for and has not asked to be withdrawn. From a human point of view, on the other hand, the question of ethics is totally dependant on how Yuvi takes this commercial – as an intention for someone to cash in on his illness or a way to reach out to millions to share his struggle against lung cancer and teach them what a champion like him has to say about the uncertainties of life.

Get well soon, Yuvi.