Politicians are emerging as India's new breed of brand endorsers

Like the sniveling boy in M Night Shyamalan's 1999 psychological thriller, The Sixth Sense, who sees dead people, I see politicians. Since you, too, can see a politician when his or her image appears on your screen or in a newspaper, let me rephrase: I see politicians everywhere.

The other day, while looking out of the car window, I glanced at a roadside poster advertising a jewellery brand. And there he was - a politician in white kurta, hands folded into a namaskar, wordlessly inviting me to drop by and perhaps pick up a 'nature-inspired gold jewellery set with floral and leafy motifs' in case I fancy that kind of thing. On closer inspection, however, I realised that the man was the owner of a jewellery chain, not some neta.

This, by itself, was rare. Hardly any owner advertises his or her own products, or services, at least in this country. I'm unlikely to ever see Mukesh Ambani come on an advert and tell us, 'Visit your nearest Reliance Fresh today. Because sabzi is the new oil.' Or Sunil Bharti Mittal looking down from a billboard, making a 'Call me' sign with his hand, with the tagline: 'Network chhoriye, networth banaiye!' Vijay Mallya may have been largely responsible for inadvertently nipping a possible owner-endorser trend in the bud.


Celebrities, led by actors, have been the big-ticket models for big-ticket products and services. Salman Khan was briefly successful in convincing me to change my underwear with his 'Yeh aaram ka mamla hai' line for Rupa Frontline. But, frankly, I wasn't that much in-vested in the brand.

Professional models, of course, still make a profession of modelling for products and services. But if you think about it (read: aren't blind), the most visible brand ambassadors are politicians in this country. Open any newspaper, and if you go simply by the maximum number of people from any profession appearing in them, you will find them to be from the world's second-oldest profession. Depending on which state you live in, local leaders will also feature on a regular basis, along with national ones, as a visual stamp by association with some official scheme, event, or engagement being advertised.

For those familiar with the outdoors, posters, handbills, and billboards will display their sanction and blessing for anything from a political rally to a social calendar event. What they are endorsing, of course, is the bundled product-service of their party. And if they're lucky to have won an election to form a government, their government. But the real big guys - PMs and CMs - lend their visual heft to more than just party or governmentally fit things.

During the 2017 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Kolkata - where I saw England's Phil Foden score two goals in the final against Spain, a month before the midfielder joined Manchester City, where he still plays at the grand age of 26 - the roads leading up to Salt Lake Stadium, and at the stadium itself, were festooned with banners, posters, signboards proclaiming the tournament and the grand finale.

And whose image went with every U-17 World Cup banner, poster, signboard? Star striker Mamata Banerjee's, of course.

Whenever there is a returning hero from any international award ceremony, competition, or tournament, the protagonist in the 'vijay jhandas' and miscellaneous banners is almost always the neta, not the winning individual or team. It is, one supposes, the politician's subh kamna and support that must have led to such a moment of pride. And many times, to bask in the light of the supreme leader, other leaders join in as smaller cutouts to share in the influence-za that tell the onlooker: 'I, too, have played a small part.'

So, think about it. Let politicians - universally adored and believed - endorse your business, product, or service by simply 'appearing' in adverts. In exchange of some material support for the party, and some cross-endorsement, your namkeen, movie, or skincare product, can do with a politician's visual advocacy.

It's a whole group of influencers to be tapped. After some initial resistance - 'My picture in a Hotel Hindusthan International New Year's Eve Countdown Night promotional with DJ Bumchiki Bumbum?'- surely they will shake off their legendary shyness.