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HUL's Lifebuoy on Roti at Kumbh Mela - Yuck!

Hindustan Unilevel, India's largest consumer products firm, along with Ogilvy, has partnered with more than 100 dhabas and hotels at the Kumbh mela site to serve rotis that are stamped with "Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya?"




 Economic Times reports that the company has made special heat stamps to make an impression of its message on rotis and hired 100 promoters to stand in 100 kitchens across the mela. The campaign started on February 1 and will run for 30 days. The company hopes to put the hand wash reminder on 2.5 million rotis.

The campaign surely has grabbed a lot of eyeballs and a lot of positive word of mouth on the internet. The highly positive online sentiment depicts that netizens have appreciated and embraced this creative idea.

But is it great? I don't think so! Imagine a soap's name appearing on the food you eat. It is if not ridiculous  completely abhorrent.

From a pure marketing perspective why would you like to remind a person who is about to eat something which is kept in the toilet and completely unrelated to eating. A toothpaste advising you to rinse your mouth after eating is ok since it is somehow related to internal use and not external use.

Imagine the feelings aroused by Lifebuoy, considered a stinky soap (earlier) reaching onto our rotis. It's like the Harpic ad (cleaning toilets) being shown when you are at the dinner table watching TV.

Agree with this? Join this discussion and give your feedback below.

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