I'm good, I'm tempting. But I leave a bad taste in the mouth
Vikram Dodd Wednesday August 21, 2002 The Guardian
It is a problem faced by multinational companies: how do they tap into the concerns of local consumers to make their advertising more relevant? The marketing people at Cadbury's India thought they would try to sell more chocolate by playing on the biggest issue facing the world's largest democracy. That is Kashmir, which threatens to plunge India and Pakistan into nuclear war.
Newspaper advertisements for the Temptations range of chocolate showed a map of Kashmir alongside the riddle: "I'm good. I'm tempting. I'm too good to share. What am I? Cadbury's Temptations or Kashmir?"
To make matters worse, the advert was timed to coincide with Indian independence day, when nationalist feelings were running at their height.
Cadbury's apologised yesterday after protests whipped up by the ruling BJP party, which plays on Hindi nationalism.
India has resisted calls to relinquish control of its part of Kashmir and has accused Pakistan of supporting Islamic militants who have attacked its troops and last year attacked its parliament.
Pakistan and India came close to nuclear war earlier this year, and New Delhi has placed a million of its troops on the border where tension remains high.
The BJP leader in Bombay, Vinod Tawde, commented: "Kashmir is a very sensitive issue and thousands of jawans [soldiers] have sacrificed their lives for it. Such ads just trivialise the issue and lack basic sensitivity.
"How can an ad campaign, in the name of creativity, even imply that Kashmir is a state to be shared? That it is a state that our neighbour [Pakistan] is not getting? Why use an emotive issue like Kashmir to promote products?"
Cadbury's India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, has operated in the country for over 50 years.
In a statement the company apologised and said: "We offer our sincere apologies to any section of the public that may have been offended by this advert."
Cadbury Schweppes, said: "From time to time local management make mistakes. This was clearly one."
Michael Collins of World Writer, an ad agency specialising in overseas markets, said: "This was ill advised. You always try to tap into local market's insights and culture to make your adverts more impactful. But in this case they may have got more than they bargained for. It has to be done with sensitivity or it can backfire in your face."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,778107,00.html