Chinese smartphone and electronic brands in India are likely to tone down or change advertising and marketing pitches amid extreme anti-China sentiments in the country after the death of at least 20 Indian soldiers in clashes with Chinese troops along Ladakh border.
Chinese brands and celebrities endorsing them run the risk of the anti-China sentiment if they go all out to promote brands in the prevailing environment, executives at celebrity management companies said. But abruptly terminating contracts that run into crores is not the solution, they said.
“Whatever the sentiment may be, contracts can’t be terminated overnight; there are pre-planned commitments and legal implications,” said Vinita Bangard, managing director of Krossover Entertainment. “But we do expect the advertising to be toned down till the situation eases,” she said.
A large electronics brand has already pulled out its advertising for a week and will review plans after that, while a smartphone brand is contemplating reducing marketing and social media communication for the moment, company executives told ET.
Bollywood star Aamir Khan endorses Vivo while Ranbir Kapoor is the face of Oppo that has also appointed Katrina Kaif as ‘brand friend’ for its Reno series. Ranveer Singh is the face of Xiaomi’s Redmi brand. Salman Khan and Shraddha Kapoor endorse Realme. Cricketer Virat Kohli is the face of iQoo, the latest smartphone brand from BBK Electronics that also owns Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus and Realme.
“While endorsements of Chinese products could cease as brand ambassadors are likely to choose to refrain from getting caught in the crossfire, critical sourcing from China is very hard to replace for too many industries and there is no immediate effective alternative,” said Prathish Nair, chief brand architect at consulting firm Trancend Brand Consulting.
Some Chinese brands that ET spoke with said they will start using #madeinIndia in all their consumer communication starting this week in both mainstream and social media, highlighting how much they are investing and their plans to bring all component manufacturers to India, in a bid to establish that they are Chinese only by birth.
Vivo, for instance, will announce later this week that it is 100% made in India including components, and will promote this in all its campaigns, industry executives said.
Market research experts such as Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC India, and Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint Research, said focus of Chinese brands’ communication will be on their manufacturing investment, employment generation and local R&D.
Singh expects brands to remain silent on the current issue and let it play out as it is, while Pathak said brands will need to be careful and distance themselves from the issue since consumers will decide on brand perception.
A senior executive with one of the largest Chinese smartphone brands, though, said the company will continue campaigns featuring celebrities as per the contract and since spots have already been purchased.
Emails sent to Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus and Realme, which dominate the Indian smartphone market and are among the biggest ad spenders, remained unanswered till Wednesday press time.
Chinese brands said their contract with celebrities does not include any clause whereby they can cancel the contract due to issues like now and hence they will continue with the campaigns as planned.
CAIT Call to Celebrities
Confederation of All India Traders, meanwhile, expressed “deep concern” over top Indian celebrities endorsing Chinese brands.
In the wake of the recent developments, it will be in the interest of the nation if top Indian celebrities immediately stop endorsing Chinese mobile brands, CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said the CAIT will approach Deepika Padukone, Vicky Kaushal, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Virat Kohli, Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh to stop their respective endorsements.
The anti-China sentiment was anyway simmering because of the Covid-19 pandemic that started in China, and has escalated with the deadly clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
Leave a Reply