The lessons we learnt from 2021’s controversies

2021 — often known as the yr of the brouhaha, when the promoting and advertising and marketing sector confronted a justifiable share of storms. Business vets inform ET what they learnt from some squalls.

1. Myntra‘s abrupt emblem change

The controversy: An activist filed a criticism towards Myntra in February, saying that the brand resembled feminine genitalia. Quickly after, the model rolled out a
new version and apologised for “hurting sentiments”.

“I don’t imagine there was something offensive in regards to the Myntra emblem. An illustration, a phrase, a phrase, or perhaps a {photograph} might throw up some unintentional meanings, particularly when they’re seen out of context. From a branding perspective, Myntra had constructed a robust picture aligned with its promise. It needn’t have modified something. A widely known emblem must be modified solely when there’s a hole between promise and notion,” says Ashwini Deshpande, cofounder, director, Elephant Design.

“By the way, the brand clean-up served one other objective. It grew to become mobile-friendly by dropping the small, overlapping strokes of letterform. This world is filled with all types of opinions. A model can’t management them.”

The takeaway: “Because the Myntra emblem controversy, we now have began including yet another examine earlier than we current any logos.

2. , Swiggy’s supply brokers protest

The controversy: Supply brokers took to social media in August
to protest Swiggy and Zomato’s alleged exploitative policies. Complaints included low base pay, rising gasoline costs, inconsistent incentives, variable pay, amongst others.

“I consult with the post-pandemic period because the 3hird Period of Branding, the place manufacturers must dwell as much as megatrends like sustainability, equality, objective, transparency and security… and never simply dwell as much as these vis-a-vis one stakeholder, however all stakeholders! Not simply prospects, however workers. Second, only a few service companies can scale efficiently as a result of it wants human engineering at one other scale,” says Kiran Khalap, cofounder and MD, chlorophyll.

The takeaway: “The incidents are just like what occurred with Amazon within the US. Whereas they delivered on megatrends for purchasers, the workers received a uncooked deal. I additionally imagine labour legal guidelines in India have to be overhauled.”

3. SRK and Byju’s trolled

ETtech

The controversy: Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan’s alleged medication problem and arrest by NCB induced social media trolls to
harangue brands to drop SRK as ambassador in October. Most calls for had been made to e-learning app Byju’s.

“One factor that turns into clear from the trolling of Byju’s is that it’s no extra about whether or not the trolling was warranted, truthful or logical. The reality is that if you’re preventing an invisible enemy, there may be little platform for cheap dialogue,” says Ajeeta Bharadwaj, CSO, Wondrlab.


The takeaway: “As custodians, take pre-emptive steps to guard the model. If it’s a celeb endorsement, make the model larger than the movie star within the communication. Create a neighborhood of evangelists who will converse up on behalf of the model when the chips are down, so there is no such thing as a build-up of damaging rhetoric. The extra we construct the model in good instances, the extra it may defend itself in dangerous instances.”

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