This strong show of support for Pepsi has come from Bollywood's top actor, Shahrukh Khan (SRK). SRK is unhappy that many people in India are now trying to ban Pepsi and Coke over the pesticide issue. This has really become a very serious issue and hardly anyone is speaking for the two cola giants. Shahrukh Khan has millions of fans in India. However, I am not sure that his fans share the same crusading zeal about Pepsi.
Why? May be they are not paid huge sum of money by Pepsi to endorse their products. SRK feels that it has nothing to do with the sponsorship of Pepsi:
“My intention is not to defend the brand I endorse. But I would like to ask the agency (which tested the soft drink for pesticides) whether they have analysed the how safe is the water we drink or if mother’s milk also contains harmful chemicals?”
He even said that if Pepsi was banned in India, he would go to USA to drink it. This is very funny to me. If Pepsi really gets banned in India (I believe that it will not) then SRK does not need to go to USA to drink it. He can drink it in any neighboring country like Bangladesh, Pakistan or Nepal. May be, he is thinking of killing two birds with one stone: a. Getting into the good book of Pepsi bosses and b. Making a trip to USA and earn some more money there. I also wonder that if Shahrukh Khan was sponsored by Coke and what he would say! Would he still say that if Pepsi was banned he would go to USA to drink it?
I wish that SRK gets a better PR team who would advice him in a better way. If Pepsi really get banned then what would he do! If you want to know my view then I would say that Shahrukh Khan will get a new sponsorship from a new cola company.
For the record, I am totally against banning of Coke and Pepsi. If Indian government really decides that these two cola giants are guilty, it should put fine on the two companies and also force them to meet the international standard. Banning them would bring no benefit to the Indian economy. It would only send wrong signal to the foreign investors. On the other hand, I also do not support the strategy of Coke and Pepsi about this crisis. Placing huge ads in the newspapers and getting this kind of foolish endorsement from celebrities would only become counter productive.
Now, let me go back to my original question. Do you really believe that if Pepsi get banned in India Shahrukh Khan will go to USA to drink it?
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The whole world or for that matter India is not terribly worried, as you are, whether Sharukh Khan will go to USA to drink Pepsi if it is banned in India. He might as well as he knows that Pepsi in USA is not as lousy as it in India for stricter standards are imposed and followed there. In all probability, mother's milk may as well contain pesticides because of lack of stricter control and unethical endorsements for products like Pepsi made by 'worthy' sons of the soil. As regards imposing fines on the erring cola companies, a full Joint Paliamentary Committee backed by a technical team had found earlier that the complaint was genuine. They are back again in their dangerous game of profiteering at the cost of human lives.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 9, 2006 7:45 PM | Permalink to Comment