As soon as professional shooter Manu Bhaker became the talk of the town for bringing home two medals at the Paris Olympics 2024, brands shot their shots, hopping onto the moment marketing bandwagon to congratulate her. Soon after, Bhaker's team issued legal notices to brands who congratulated her and used her fame to garner eyeballs. 

According to the firm that manages Bhaker, IOS Sports and Entertainment, this free-of-cost moment marketing being leveraged by brands that don't even sponsor or are associated with the athlete is outright illegal. Some of the brands named were Bajaj Foods, LIC, and FIITJEE which don't sponsor Bhaker, yet used her photos and videos in their congratulatory posts. 

Who’s right: Celebrity or brands? 

Amidst the controversy, the question arises of whether Bhaker's marketing firm is in the right. 

Brand strategist and storyteller, Vinay Kanchan believes that while posting on social media or WhatsApp as a part of the conversation, the brands want some of the sheen of that athlete to rub off on them to their advantage. If that's the case, then it's only right that the athlete or the sportsperson be adequately compensated. 

“It's good to do moment marketing, but there are too many instances of people just latching on to any victory and trying to make the most of it without actually doffing their hat in financial terms to the people who are responsible for that moment at the moment,” he added.

Lloyd Mathias, Angel Investor & Business Strategist added, “Simply using the image of a celebrity because he or she has won and congratulating them or saying something smart is not always ethical. I know it can be argued that brands like Amul have been doing this for a long time but Amul has kind of used caricatures and used very smart use of puns.” 

It's fair to take specific permission from the start, whether that permission involves a cost agreement is up to the celebrity, as per him. But it's ethical to take permission because eventually, the brand is using it to make a commercial point and obviously to increase its sales or its salience, which is not fair as far as the celebrity is concerned.

Looking at the situation from a different lens, Dr Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director, Rediffusion said, “It is a Catch-22 situation. If no one congratulates her or applauds her then she gets zero visibility or fame. If she gets no fame, she is not a human brand of any consequence.”

A recurrence of events

This is not the first time when top reputable brands have been in a soup for capitalising on a celebrity’s moment marketing. During the Tokyo Olympics 2021, Badminton player, PV Sindhu sent legal notices to Perfetti Van Melle, P&G, Pan Bahar and many others, seeking Rs 5 crore each for damages.

In 2018 too, Swiggy and FreeCharge were served cease and desist notices from cricketer Prithvi Shaw’s marketing company for encashing the sports star's name and fame. 

After the PV Sindhu fiasco, ASCI also issued a directive for brands which stated, “Advertisements shall not, without permission from the person, firm or institution under reference, contain any reference to such person, which confers an unjustified advantage on the product advertised or tends to bring the person, firm or institute into ridicule or disrepute. If and when required to do so by ASCI, the advertiser and the advertising agency shall produce explicit permission from the person, firm or institution to which reference is made in the advertisement”. Any non-compliance with this directive was declared to be a violation of ASCI’s Code.

But the recurrence of such events hasn’t reduced and authorities definitely need to tighten their regulations to maintain a fair and just advertising environment for the brands as well as celebrities. 

“Brands have gotten away so far very lightly. I know a lot of brands have been doing it for the last decade or so. And that is not okay. That is completely beyond a brand's limit. You cannot use somebody else's celebrityhood,” added Mathias. 

Tips for brands to keep in mind

The experts also suggested a few tips for brands to keep in mind before hopping on to the moment marketing bandwagon. 

Kanchan suggested brands think very hard about whether they want to be part of it. There are a few select brands in India which support sports and many which don't. So when those who don't suddenly start glorifying the sportsperson, it seems a little odd.

Even the impact of everyone doing a similar kind of moment marketing is ineffective for the brand. Suddenly social media is flooded with so many memes that it’s likely for any single brand to earn any value.

Mathias simply advised when it comes to any celebrity, any sporting person winning a big event, the appropriate thing is to get in touch with the celebrity's management agent who is representing them and get specific permission.

Sharing a different perspective, Goyal said, “It is over-enthusiastic, under-baked handlers who hurt such nascent talent. Personality rights don’t accrue automatically. They need to be registered and owned.”