Congratulating PV Sindhu on her Olympic podium finish may cost brands

PV Sindhu, the ace shuttler who created history earlier this week by becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals, is exploring legal options against brands and companies including Happydent-maker Perfetti Van Melle, Vicks-maker P&G, Pan Bahar, Apollo Hospitals, Aditya Birla Group and others for unauthorised use of her name and pictures for marketing purposes.

Baseline Ventures, the sports marketing agency that manages all commercial deals of Sindhu, will be sending legal notices on her behalf, seeking damages worth ₹5 crore from each of these companies.

“We are surprised that such leading Indian and global firms are resorting to such forms of communication to associate with our athletes, which is in complete breach of their IPR and privacy,” Baseline Ventures MD Tuhin Mishra told ET.


While many fans and companies put out congratulatory posts on social media, these brands used their logos and brand name along with the athlete.

As per marketing experts, this is called ‘moment marketing’.

Brands insert themselves in the ongoing conversation to take advantage of ongoing events by creating communications and marketing collateral around such events.

Amul has been doing it successfully for many years, and last month Domino’s did the same when they announced free pizza for life for silver medal winner Mirabai Chanu.

Only in her case, the pizza brand inked a digital activation pact with the 26-year-old weightlifter later. It was her first deal, post her podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

However, in Sindhu’s case, who already has many brand associations, these kinds of posts come at a cost. “In a way, these tactics are also unfair to genuine firms who have supported the athlete round the year. Would these very firms try the same gimmicks with some of our leading cricketers? I doubt it. It’s time we all stand up to such unethical practices and we will do everything possible to protect our athletes and their rights,” Mishra added.
Perfetti Van Malle, P&G and Apollo Hospitals refused to comment.

This is not the first time when brands have been sued for using celebrities or sports athletes. Many brand experts call such practices gimmicky, as they seek to latch on the popularity of the celebrity, without getting into a commercial deal with them.

Apart from the above mentioned brands, Baseline will also send notices to a clutch of banks, including Bank of Maharashtra, Fino Payments Bank, Punjab National Bank, Phone Pe, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Indian Bank.

Offering legal opinion, Kaushik Moitra, partner at law firm Bharucha & Partners, said, “The right of publicity has also evolved from the right of privacy, which is a fundamental right in India. Additionally, a celebrity holds a copyright in their performance and is entitled to restrain others from exploiting their intellectual property for commercial purposes. Thus, a celebrity’s name, voice, image, or other personal attributes cannot be exploited without their permission.”

He added that while a celebrity is by the very nature of their status subject to much discussion and scrutiny among the public, it is also important to recognise that there is actual value attached to the personality of a celebrity.

“Where the personality rights of a celebrity are exploited without their consent, particularly with the intention of monetising such use, the celebrity is within their rights to oppose such unauthorised use,” Moitra added.

A few sports marketing experts, however, feel that sending a legal notice or dragging the brands to courts, seeking damages is too extreme a step. They say that brands have digital marketing agencies and in order to keep their clients in the news, they sometimes get overzealous in their approach.

“Taking the brand to court may be counterproductive, but it is also a brand’s duty to be more responsible. A tweet from Chanu, saying that she likes pizza of a competitor brand, or a post from Sindhu stating she doesn’t eat chewing gum, would be enough to give sleepless nights to a few brand managers,” said the top executive of a sports marketing firm.