CocaCola Sees Red In India

A hoarding put up in the southern city of Chennai by well known photographer Sharad Haksar has Coca Cola officials seeing red.

The photo depicts a set of plastic pots next to a dry handpump - an allusion to the chronic water shortage in the city. The scene is set against a red wall bearing the painted logo of "Coca Cola". News website rediff.com reports:

On July 11, 2005, the law firm Daniel & Gladys, who represent Coca-Cola’s Indian subsidiary, sent a letter to Haksar  threatening him with legal action if the billboard was not replaced ‘unconditionally and immediately’.

The letter said Coca-Cola would seek Rs 2 million for ‘incalculable damage to the goodwill and reputation’ of the brand if Haksar did not comply with the notice.

Incidenatally, Coke is a client of Haksar and the photographer says he  had shown the picture to company officials 3 months ago, at which time no one objected to it. The company’s stance could have something to do with the fact that it has been accused of contaminating ground water in the neighbouring state of Kerala (an anti-Coke agitation has been going on there for some time now).

However, few consumers connected the dry water pump with the groundwater issue. Many thought it was merely one of those ’special extra creative ads’ which are often made with advertising awards shows in mind.

Says one such consumer commenting on the popular Chennai blog kiruba.com: "I’ve passed this hoarding a million times on Nungambakkam High Road and have been under the impression all this while that it was a Coke ad that used one of Sharad Haskar’s photographs!!!"

Incidentally, the ad is part of a ’social awareness juxtaposed against multinational advertising’ series. The previous hoarding depicted a kid pee-ing on a wall, which bore the legend "Just do it" .

The question is, when a brand and it’s slogan becomes part of the popular culture, how far can it - or should it - be ‘protected’. Isn’t the use or even the subversion of these symbols by artists more a tribute to how much a part of life these brands have become?

Contributed by Rashmi Bansal. Originally published on PSFK.