As people re-discover Sourav Ganguly’s old ad endorsing Fortune Rice Bran Oil, Twitterati wonders what the brand’s next steps will be
- BCCI President and former India cricket captain
Sourav Ganguly suffered a mildheart attack last Saturday. - Ganguly is now said to be stable. However, while many were concerned about the player's health, many re-discovered his old ad endorsing
Fortune 'sRice Bran Oil which then triggered a slew of tweets and jokes with people questioning the effectiveness of the oil and also wondering how the brand will tackle this crisis now.
Should you trust Adani's Fortune ? https://t.co/mRc5x4yraA
— Pankaj Jain (@pj77in) 1609609764000
Now while this ad is from April 2020, a viewer pointed that the ad showing Ganguly endorsing its rice bran oil was aired even during the weekend, leaving many on Twitter amused while others pointing out the irony.
Remembering the ad, “40 ke ho gye to kya jeena chhod doge”, I wonder the condition of the brand manager of Fortune… https://t.co/60lqlSSCGD
— abhinav pathak ⏳ (@abhinavdiaries) 1609601513000
I remember Dada doing a commercial of Fortune Oil and talking about heart health and how you need to careful about… https://t.co/X0WKWIus38
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) 1609577278000
The re-discovery of the ad also led to a slew of memes and Whatsapp forwards.
Will be interesting to see how #Fortune oil brand will now use their ambassador Sourav Ganguly given that their o… https://t.co/h69gsNxVSt
— Bourbon Naxal (@ParryRamMe) 1609674863000
On what the brand could do when it is finding itself in this crisis, for no apparent fault of their own, communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan in his tweets advised removing the ads as a first step.
Is Fortune Foods' Oil division working on a crisis response plan? The ad is from April 2020, by the way.Context:… https://t.co/nORPU9DJ4U
— Karthik (@beastoftraal) 1609651707000
We checked the brand’s official handles and found that the ad had since been removed.
He also suggested that the brand should ‘build a larger narrative around the causes of heart attack in the 40s that do not directly correlate it to oil consumption alone.’
Meanwhile, brand strategist Lloyd Mathias pointed that the player did not lead an unhealthy lifestyle and that sportsmen with a 10-15 year playing life need to keep the earnings coming in.
Seen many tweets on the irony in Sourav Ganguly endorsing Fortune RiceBran Oil. Got to realise it’s the risk one ta… https://t.co/XDhO5g9fNr
— Lloyd Mathias (@LloydMathias) 1609671398000
How the brand chooses to tackle the situation is something we will now need to wait and watch.