The Marketing Agency Talk

TBWA India has just fallen out of grace. It should be a happy and fun campaign but the TBWA India’s  Haagen-Dazs ice cream launch in India has successfully offended many Indian nationals and subsequently trigger an avalanche of backlash by bloggers.

The offensive posters were prominently displayed the very first Haagen-Dazs outlet in a Delhi shopping mall. The agency’s original intention was to create  up market cosmopolitan feel with a reference to the French Riviera hence the copy “Exclusive Preview for International Travellers. Access restricted only to holders of international passports.” Those words deeply hurt the pride of many Indians.

In a blog post headlined “Sorry, Indians Not Allowed,” Rajest Kaira said his  friend was refused entry to the new ice-cream store . More than  1,000 comments poured in. The first comment by Samir, started the ball rolling by stating that , “This is an insult of Indian nationals. … They should be barred from doing business in India.” The next comment by Born India agreed: “The store should be shut down immediately,”. Basically, people were fury, most said Haagen-Dazs should be fined or kick out of the country, or better still,  both.

Is this an overeaction? This might look as an over-reaction to non-Indians, but anyone who’s lived there will know where the reactions stem from. During British rule, it was a common sight on a few ‘privileged’ locations to have boards such as ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’. un

Even Mahatma Ghandi was disallowed to take the train reserved for the white in his younger days.

Anti colonialism is evidently present by the response and reaction.