Hautetalk: Why Are Celebs, Brands Creating Fake News For PR Stunts? It’s Cheugy
Can we not, please?
Just recently, Anushka Sharma left us all shocked after she called out activewear brand PUMA for using her pictures for promoting their brand without her permission and while we were still reeling with the shock of it all, the actress and the brand revealed that Anushka was set to come onboard as a brand ambassador for PUMA. Yep, it was a marketing gimmick and let’s be honest, it’s not the first one of its kind. We’ve witnessed celebs pull numerous such PR stunts and slowly but steadily we’re growing immune to it.
I mean, I get it, it’s a PR stunt to get the buzz going but what’s with all the desperate attention seeking. Have celebs reached a point where the consider us regular people to be so stupid that we’d just blindly believe in something that has been so many times? Come to think of it, I didn’t believe in that Gimmick got a single second. Reason? Well, how can a brand as big as PUMA that, of course, has a whole legal team, forget all about copyright and intellectual property rights? Yeah no, that ain’t gonna happen.
This year has been full of marketing gimmicks and PR stunts that just left us wondering why can’t brands come up with something better and more creative. Neha Kakkar pulled a fake pregnancy stunt to promote a song, Devoleena Bhattacharjee and Vishal Singh pulled a fake engagement stunt to promote a song and so did Sonakshi Sinha to announce the launch of her press-on nails brand.
Also Read: Malaika Arora’s Cryptic Post Captioned “I Said Yes” Is A Big Announcement Or Just Another Gimmick? Tell Us Already!
For the longest time, journalists and media organisations debunk myths and all the fake news that is regularly shared on WhatsApp. And on the other hand, we now have celebs using fake news as a tool to promote something. If that’s not desperate or as I’d like to call it cheugy, I don’t know what is. Over the years, we’ve seen some of the most amazing PR campaign that agencies have come up with but here we are using a strategy that is tacky and clearly isn’t working. Guess, it’s time we call it out. Celebs and brands must take more responsibility and be careful with how they promote products and services and ensure that they don’t use fake news to further their agenda.
