A few years ago, global consumer goods giant Unilever found itself in a sticky situation. A new advertisement for its margarine Flora, had sparked a huge row. The ad showed a bullet going straight for a human heart made of china. The bullet, fashioned by the words “Uhh dad, I’m gay”, was followed by Flora’s tagline, “You need a strong heart today”. Amid large scale protests against the clearly homophobic nature of the ad, Unilever first distanced itself from the campaign, saying it had been produced by an agency in South Africa and had not been approved by the company. Then, as the protests refused to die down, the company pulled the campaign altogether. “The ad seemed to indicate that finding out your son was homosexual, was like taking a bullet to the heart. It was a very uncomfortable situation for us,” said Marc Mathieu, global SVP marketing for Unilever, who was in Mumbai last week, speaking at an event organised by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), on responsible advertising. ASCI has been pushing for self-regulation in the advertising world to ensure ethical and responsible handling of campaigns, and also for punitive measures against companies and agencies that put out misleading ads. Earlier in the week, the Department of Consumer Affairs announced it had set up a website called GAMA (Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements) and was partnering with ASCI to take action on the complaints filed online and penalise offenders. The prevalent idea, however, is that there may be no need for action if the industry decides for itself to toe the line.

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