The Indian Premier League has hogged the headlines over the dazzling rates commanded by some players, India’s growing commercial hold over global cricket, the entry of big money and glamour into cricket, the disparity of a few dozen earning what could sustain hundreds of millions, the objections raised by the usual suspects to the auctioning of human beings, etc. None of these matter too much from the point-of-view of fans, fanatics and followers of the game, who will now get to see a more thrilling but shorter version of their favourite opium invade their bloodstream.
For them, though, the key issues will be the steep ticket rates at the hands of corporates who have shelled out hundreds of crores, steep food and drink prices in-stadia, and such like. But for parents, purists and medical activists, especially in Karnataka, there is also the very real prospect of cricket being used to promote hard liquor. The Bangalore IPL franchise, owned by beer baron Vijay Mallya, has announced that the team will be called “Royal Challengers”. That might seem appropriate given the State’s umbilical link with maharajas, with an erstwhile yuvaraja as KSCA chief. But it’s a cleverly chosen name that could be used to push the whisky brand “Royal Challenge” owned by Mallya’s United Breweries.
Questions: Will Mallya end up using cricket—and “clean” stars like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble—to promote hard liquors like whisky? Or is it OK if he can have an airliner named after Kingfisher, beer not the bird? Should IPL allow the name Royal Challengers considering its longer-term impact potential on society? Or is a franchise owner free to name and use a team he has bought any which way he wants? When western countries have banned cigarette and liquor advertising in sport, should cricket allow considering its possible impact on young, impressionable minds?
Are we just being a little too prudish in the era of consumption and growing permissiveness? Or is there something called Corporate Social Responsibility that goes beyond initiatives designed to fetch headlines in the colour supplements?
Photograph: Press Association, courtesy The Daily Telegraph, London
Also read: Are Twenty20 cheer girls obscene?
Tags: Alcohol, Churumuri, Indian Premier League, Kingfisher, Royal Challenge, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, United Breweries, Vijay Mallya, Whisky
22 February 2008 at 11:37 am
Its just a surrogate advertising , no need to read more into it by giving a spin of the ‘Yuvaraj’ at the helm of KSCA .
I feel sorry for the ‘clean’ players and hopefully they will switch sides
22 February 2008 at 11:43 am
Once you open the floodgates of commercialisation, you will be flooded. It is too late to object. If you are sold, you are sold lock, stock and barrel. Amidst the controversy over the “low”prices for worldclass players, the backdoor endorsements by star players through surrogate advertising and “frills and fancies” like cheerleaders accompanying 2020, and the tax man salivating over the new fish in his net, can players have a change of heart and back out? If so, there is hope that this entire auction approach will collapse even before it comes to life.
22 February 2008 at 11:44 am
It’s funny if the `clean players’ stay away from a team called Royal Challengers. Then they also shouldn’t be flying an airline called Kingfisher or a trophy called Wills. If Mallya is pumping in the kind of money he is, it’s natural for him to promote a brand of his. I think it is stupid not to let these people advertise booze or liquor and at the same time allow them to be very widely distributed around the country.
22 February 2008 at 12:31 pm
If playera can be bought by auction and if it is legal why not betting in cricket is called illeal. Now the money is spent on individual players I think betting is no more a crime. Perhaps BCCI may itself start one so that it can pocket more revenue
22 February 2008 at 6:11 pm
Its quite dumb to believe that big business is investing in the cricket ‘just for the fun of it’. Don’t get surprised if this quick version of cricket gets popularised as ‘Kingfisher Cricket’. May be a dose of ‘Kingfisher’ can bring the best out of all players :-)
23 February 2008 at 12:51 am
It’s Vijay Mallya’s money and he will spend it the way he wants to spend it. The writer of this article is a socialist rowdy from Nayanda halli!!!
23 February 2008 at 3:17 am
Hey! have you people knew about this?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gurgaon_pubs_can_party_24x7/articleshow/2799841.cms
Haryana State is allowing bars to be open all-night and hard liquors to be freely stocked and sold in departmental stores.
So, like this, If yella is Ok advertisement yaake?
23 February 2008 at 6:16 pm
Can’t some bright lawyer file a PIL saying this is advertising of liqour brand and try to get this name overruled?
Alok – What say?
24 February 2008 at 12:16 am
Strangely, when I need to book an air-ticket, due to the good overall experience of travelling by Kingfisher Airlines, I look for it specifically. I never really think of beer. However, I had a bad experience recently with the inordinate delay, lack of information and no good reasons given for all the lapses, and now I will think twice/actually, I will avoid Kingfisher next time I book a flight. But despite the incident,when I needed to order a beer later, I did ask for Kingfisher.
So, I do wonder whether we make much of this surrogate advertising. I think unless the Royal Challengers make fools of themselves on the field, and people start calling them say, “royal losers” or something, the name may not do anything to help beer sales. Brand recall is something advertisers harp about..and in my personal experience, negative association is more likely than positive. If the 2020 team is bad or disappoints greatly, a cricket lover may turn to another Airlines in vengeance. If the Airlines lets one down badly, even a beer loyalist may turn away from Kingfisher. So perhaps it is Mallya who is taking a risk!
24 February 2008 at 5:37 am
http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/preview.php?story-url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rediff.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2Fdec%2F05sld3.htm&img-url=http%3A%2F%2Fim.rediff.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2Fdec%2F05sld3.jpg&search-keyword=kingfisher%20calendar&img-size=17k&img-height=400&img-width=259&img-type=JPEG&thumb-url=http%3A%2F%2Fimsearch.rediff.com%2Fimages%2Fpreview%3Fi%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fim.rediff.com%252Fnews%252F2006%252Fdec%252F05sld3.jpg.thumb&addr-url=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.rediff.com%2Fimgsrch%2Fdefault.php%3FMT%3DKingfisher%2520Calendar%2520&sizeImg=&pos=1&link=thumb
Dravd & co next!
27 February 2008 at 8:45 pm
To hell with what Mallya does. The fact that these guys were being auctioned like cattle recently overshadhows everything. Anyways the headline was too cool. Couldnt stop laughing ever since I read it
3 March 2008 at 9:20 am
I do really feel the days of legalizing the betting on 20-20 cricket matches and match fixing are not too far. After all the players are acquired like prized horses and naturally owners expect to derive maximum benefit out of them. As for the use of clean players to boost the sale of liquor less said the better, No one is an angel.All are after money with varied degree of vigour. Mallya is a business man, not an ardent cricket lover to squander millions just to preserve the purity of the great game. It is mere a wishful thinking to assume all is for the growth of cricket and clean sports