Has brand SRK taken a drubbing after his son Aryan Khan’s arrest for alleged drug consumption?
No, says ad guru Prahlad Kakkar. “There may be a temporary setback. But Brand SRK is way too powerful to suffer for the ridiculous crisis that has been thrust into his life.
“Kakkar feel the attempts to sully Shah Rukh Khan’s image are politically motivated. “Of course they are politically motivated. Because he did not fit into the current mainstream political climate of the country, they want to teach him a lesson.”
The setback, feels Kakkar , is temporary. “I can tell you as an educationist that the educational apps has taken a kneejerk decision to blackout SRK’s ads, and because it’s to do with children and their education, they didn’t want to send out wrong signals about young people taking drugs. As a rule the advertisement world is filled with spineless people. But that apart, the SRK brand is way too powerful to suffer because of minor setbacks such as this. His brand may take a little tarnishing. But it will suffer no long-term damage because the public sympathy is with Shah Rukh Khan. They know he’s being targeted for who he is.If you recall, Salman Khan was also dropped from a beverage campaign after the hit-and-run scandal. In his case even his diehard fans knew the truth, and yet they quickly forgot and moved on back to iconizing him. In Shah Rukh’s case , the nation is with him.Especially the young of the nation are with him.”
Speaking on how this crisis would change Aryan Khan, Kakkar says, “It can prove a good learning experience for Aryan.He has been cocooned in the lap of luxury .Highly pampered children need that jolt in life. Now he has seen what real life is. He needed to find his north.Maybe this incident will help him do that. Of course he can also take the incident to heart and go the other way. But I wouldn’t like to think about that. I just hope the boy, about whom I only hear good things, will be home soon with his parents.”
One more point that Kakkar would like to make is regarding the targeting of the entertainment industry. “Actors and entertainers are soft targets. People at large have seen through this.I don’t think they will support any move to teach showbiz celebrities a lesson.When you target Shah Rukh’s 23-year old son everyone can see what you’re doing.”