FORTUNE OILS MISFORTUNE
India, a vibrant and spirited country with a big heart, has always captivated the world with an enticing hospitality, warmth and generosity. But India's unrelenting heart is at risk due to the growing epidemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with particular causes of concern being its accelerated build up, an early age of onset and high case fatality rate. The condition affects us Indians in our most productive middle years -- almost a decade earlier (33% earlier) than our European counterparts and has earned us the reputation of being a ‘Coronary Capital of the World.’
Apart from the hereditary factors, triggering these diseases are the unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and the harmful use of alcohol. These, in turn show up in people as raised blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, overweight, obesity and abnormal lipids, the conventional risk factors that are detrimental to good health. However, a significant proportion of people who present in an emergency with acute cardiac events have none of these conventional risk factors. For general public, this fact became evident few weeks ago when Dada of Indian cricket and the president of BCCI, despite being at a relatively lower risk, suffered a heart attack followed by an urgent primary angioplasty.
While the news of heart attack triggered sympathy and prayers amongst his myriad fans, it also led to a lot of buzz on the social media with some seeking to link it with his endorsements. The netizens came alive with memes and forwards taking a dig at fortune cooking oil, the oil that was being promoted as a heart healthy alternative with a tag line of - Dada bole welcome to the 40’s. The campaign was heavily counter fired by an unfortunate event and turned out to be a misfortune of titanic kind. More unfortunate was the fact that you tout something as a heart healthy alternative and when your brand ambassador gets a heart attack, you immediately pull out the ad with the said person, putting doubt in everyone’s mind that either the brand or the brand ambassador was not worth a promotion. As is said, health is a dynamic entity with a marginal line between health and disease, no one can predict the future. In the pink of his health and keeping in view his fitness schedule, disciplined lifestyle, teetotaler, well controlled weight, supremely fit and athletic body, his choice as a brand ambassador for this cooking oil product in January 2020 was not inappropriate. Unfortunately, an overnight happening changed the whole scenario and the pulling out of an ad before even wishing him good health and recovery exposed the pure corporate greed, opportunism and a concern more inclined towards the welfare of their brands than their ambassadors.
These are only the incidental case scenarios wherein the brand ambassadors are themselves involved and to avoid the damage to their brands the company either maintains distance from the said persons or else pulls the ads off from air. Since the brands are big and brand ambassadors are high profile celebrities with an ability to reach to masses, the action and reaction, both gets highlighted. However, there are millions of young people in teens who are getting influenced by the ads in which smoking, tobacco chewing, cold drinks and junk foods are being promoted by the celebrities. Smoking increases the risk for coronary artery disease by 2 to 4 times and alone causes more deaths each year than HIV, Drug abuse, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries and firearm related incidents combined together. Tobacco chewing is notorious for causing mouth and throat cancers while junk foods and cold drinks are the root causes of childhood obesity, metabolic syndrome, early diabetes and consequently cardiac ailments. The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled among children and tripled among teens. Advertising directed at children is by its very nature exploitative and they have a remarkable ability to recall content from the ads to which they have been exposed. Product preferences affect children's product purchase requests which in turn influence parents purchasing decisions, and both together influence the lifestyle and dietary preferences in family.
The withdrawal of ads or keeping a distance from brand ambassador’s while not in good health is not out of concern for the general public but only a way to control the damage and rebuild the brand image. The way decision was taken at a knee jerk to take an ad off air so to save the reputation of a brand, the same sanity needs to be kept intact by the ambassadors so that they don't promote the products that have a short or a long term harmful effects on the health of the viewers. The ads promoting junk foods, tobacco, cigarette smoking etc kill millions of people and both the makers and promoters need to give a genuine thought so that not only the current generation gets saved but also we are able to see a healthier future of next generation. As prevention is better than cure, the measures that improve the quality of life and create awareness among masses to alter, reduce or modify these risk factors for heart disease need to be emphasized. By making just a few small changes to our lives, we can reduce our risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as improve our quality of life and set a good example for the next generation.
Dr. Pawan Suri Chief Cardiologist
SGL SuperSpeciality Hospital Jalandhar, Punjab
Email: psuricardio@gmail.co
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