In June 2002, the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry

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• Marketing Management
•  
• Case Study (20 Marks)
• In June 2002, the Information and
  Broadcasting (IB) Ministry of India ordered
  leading television (TV) broadcasters to ban the
  telecast of two surrogate ads of liquor brands,
  McDowell's No. 1 and Gilbey's Green Label. The
  Ministry also put some other brands Smirnoff
  Vodka, Hayward's 5000, Royal Challenge Whiskey
  and Kingfisher beer on a 'watch list.' The
  surrogates used by these advertisements ranged
  from audiocassettes, CDs and perfumes to golf
  accessories and mineral water. By August 2002,
  the IB Ministry had banned 12 advertisements.
  Leading satellite TV channels, including Zee,
  Sony, STAR and Aaj Tak were issued showcause
  notices asking them to explain their reason for
  carrying surrogate liquor advertisements.

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• The channels were asked to adhere strictly
  to the Cable Television Regulation Act 1995
  (Cable TV Act, 1995).2As a result, Zee and STAR
  stopped telecasting the advertisements Aaj Tak
  and Sony soon followed suit. In addition, the IB
  Ministry hired a private monitoring agency to
  keep a watch on all advertisements for violations
  of the Act. These developments led to heated
  debates over the issue of surrogate advertising
  by liquor companies. Though the liquor companies
  involved protested strongly against the IB
  Ministry's decision, they had no choice, but to
  comply with the regulations. Analysts remarked
  that the government's policy was hypocritical.
  One said, "On the one hand they allow these
  'socially bad' products to be manufactured and
  sold (in order to garner revenues) and then they
  deny the manufacturers the right to propagate
  knowledge of their products in order to drive
  sales.

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• Answer the following question.
• Q1. Give an overview of the case.
• Q2. Why the government was in dilemma for banning
  the liquor advertisements?

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