Why Brand Kohli is going kosher

Kohli's refusal to endorse cola brands hurts Pepsi, but it also raises many questions about his other brand assignments

It was a massive put-down for Pepsi to be told by Virat Kohli that he would not endorse the brand any further. Kohli, an endorser of the beverage brand since 2011, hanged Pepsi out to dry saying he would practice what he preaches, and would lend his name only to brands which he himself uses and believes in. Kohli has been seen endorsing a healthy lifestyle, seeking to establish a dietary and fitness regimen among his followers. Wanting to lead by example, he has been talking up the benefits of exercise and natural food and saying how it has contributed to his matchless fitness levels. Endorsing a soft drink certainly appeared to be a contradiction. So Brand Kohli had little option but to go kosher, it appears.
 

With millions of followers on social media, Kohli knows he is not just being watched, but idolised and emulated. And the message he is sending out is clear: he will do whatever it takes to protect the value of the most valuable brand in his portfolio, Brand Kohli.

Brands dropping celebrity endorsees either due to controversy or when celebrities start to fade-out is the norm, but a celebrity dropping an existing endorsement relationship has few parallels. Amitabh Bachchan said that he stopped endorsing Pepsi after a visit to a school where he was confronted by a girl who asked him why he promoted the sugary drink. Former badminton player and current India coach Pullela Gopichand is perhaps the only other sportsperson who has taken a similar public stand against endorsing a product considered unhealthy. “I did not want to be responsible for even one child drinking these soft drinks,” Gopichand had said. That was nearly twenty years ago. Since then, no other celebrity endorser has taken such a stand publicly, until now.

Virat Kohli, it is said, went through a personal transformation after a dismal IPL 2012. He has been quoted as saying, “I came out of the shower one day and looked at myself in the mirror and said: ‘You can’t look like this if you want to be a professional cricketer’. I changed everything — from what I eat to how I train. I was off gluten, off wheat, no cold drinks, no desserts, nothing.” If he was not drinking colas himself, it was only a matter of time before he disassociated with Pepsi.

Kohli has also said that he will no longer endorse fairness creams. In that he is not alone. Already the likes of Abhay Deol, Nandita Das, Ranbir Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Randeep Hooda and Kalki Koechlin have distanced themselves from the category. 

Kohli’s renunciation of Pepsi raises some interesting questions though. Kohli, as captain of the Royal Challengers, is willy-nilly the face of a liquor brand. Will he give that up too? Hashim Amla has set precedents here by giving up half his match fee for not wearing the logo of beer company, Castle Lager that sponsors the South African team. A lot of what constitutes the portfolio of Herbal Life, another of Virat’s endorsements, may not really be healthy. Will Virat sign off from there too? Virat’s association with Vivo, a Chinese brand, is in the eye of a storm too. Will Virat dump Vivo if the anti-China sentiment grows? 

Kohli may have had completely noble intentions in dropping Pepsi, but there are many who ask why it took him six long years to figure out that Pepsi was unhealthy, more so since his personal journey to healthy goodness started almost at the same time as when he signed on the Pepsi contract. Well even so, better late than never. 

However his announcement must be seen in the context of the phenomenal rise of his brand power. Captain Kohli has 15.6 million followers on Instagram; his official Facebook fan page has over 35 million likes; he has 18.25 million followers on Twitter. Virat Kohli knows that he has to use his powers responsibly, be above reproach and beyond suspicion in his choices on the personal and professional front. 

Kohli turning kosher could be the start of a self-regulatory code for celebrity endorsers. There has been much criticism of Ajay Devgn endorsing a pan masala under the guise of elaichi. Farhan Akhtar too has been mauled over his endorsements of Chivas Regal and Mcdowell’s. Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Sushant Singh Rajput, Shahid Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Dia Mirza, Asin, and Kareena Kapoor have continued to endorse fairness creams. Kohli has signalled change. Tomorrow could well be different. 

For brands, the dumping of Pepsi should be an important lesson. Celebrity endorsers, for the first time, have become a double-edged sword. Pepsi has perhaps lost more lustre as a brand by Kohli’s distancing act and the consequent negative PR, than it perhaps gained through his endorsements. The company has kept quiet all through this separation, which is commendable. As for Virat Kohli, he made significant money endorsing Pepsi over the years, and should perhaps have been more mature in his approach. Restraint and dignity would have served the Kohli brand better. 

Sandeep Goyal is a senior advertising professional and currently working on a PhD on Celebrities as Human Brands from FMS-Delhi