Creating an interesting marketing campaign that is witty, funny and yet conveys the meaning of it just right, is quite a difficult thing.

But to be honest, I have seldom seen a company, screw it up so badly that they use a completely opposite way in order to endorse their real meaning.

In this case, it would be Times NOW that recently came up with an interesting method to market the fact that there has been a positive increase in the female viewership for English news in India.

But then they released this image as both a tweet and in print ads of several newspapers, that hilariously seems to be conveying the exact opposite of anything related to women empowerment.

The ad talks about how when Bollywood and global icon Priyanka Chopra, talks about her next Hollywood project, very obviously pointing towards how Chopra has made it in Hollywood all on her own and is successful there, then Priyanka Kapoor, Baweja, Jonas, Khan, Kumar, etc. watch that too.

A Sick Move By Times NOW

Frankly, more than anything this is a sick and derogatory move by Times NOW to be using Priyanka Chopra’s alleged relationships as a way to market something that is about a completely unrelated topic.

Because let us not kid ourselves that Times didn’t really know what they were doing or that it was all innocent. They knew exactly what the surnames meant and a logical reasoning for doing so would be grabbing attention that would be created by them.

They have also posted this campaign on their Twitter page with the caption:

Women are not just leading primetime news. They are watching it too. A Times Network initiative to create awareness about women viewership for English News. #WomenOnTop

They have not just used Priyanka Chopra, but also other famous female personalities like Sania Nehwal, Faye D’Souza and more to talk about the growing interest of women in English news.

This clearly aims at representing empowered women who want to stay informed and knowledgeable about their surroundings and what is happening in it.

The format of the campaign takes a look at how when one famous woman does something, whether it is reporting, or winning a match or getting a Hollywood project, then several other women from various sectors, religions and regions, also watch it and can get inspired from it.

However, the blatant attempt to use Chopra’s personal life, by very clearly using surnames of people she has been linked with in the past or was/is allegedly in a relationship is just extremely hypocritical of the publication, thus defeating their entire purpose.

Read More: Ranbir And Alia or Priyanka And Nick Jonas: Why Is Bollywood Falling For 10 Years Younger People?

Twitter Backlash and Rightfully So

In all honesty, Times NOW did this only for Priyanka Chopra, while choosing unrelated and vague surnames for the other two women used in the campaign.

Surnames like Kapoor and Baweja clearly aimed towards Priyank Chopra’s early alleged relationship with Shahid Kapoor and Harman Baweja. The Jonas is extremely giving as pointing directly at the current rumour of Nick Jonas and Chopra dating.

But the actually vile and shameless ones would be the use of Khan and Kumar that could be directed at the harsh rumours that went around a few years back of either Shah Rukh Khan or Akshay Kumar, both married men, having a less than platonic relationship with Chopra.

This is such a disgraceful thing for a publication of Times NOW’s status to do that it just brings down any credibility or respect they had in front of the public eye.

Times NOW could have just as easily used named of Chopra’s characters or any other surnames that are not related to people she’s been linked with. It was definitely not that difficult to do so.

Twitter immediately responded to this classless and disrespectful image and called out the publication for the audacity of allowing such a thing to get out in the first place.

This just goes to show a very disturbing image of how exactly media publications are all about just getting views and grabbing eyeballs no matter what they have to do.

Also, it clearly indicates how women of Bollywood are still associated with sexist things like their boobs, men they have been with, awkward wardrobe malfunctions and more by major publications.

One would think that after the TOI debacle of Deepika Padukone, publications would be just slightly more careful of what they are printing, but that certainly does not seem to be the case here.

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Social Samosa, LatestLY

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1 COMMENT

  1. I totally hear you. Reminding all of us that snarkiness in the hands of morons backfires for them, as they lost their cred.

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