Superstar
Rajinikanth
is
not
known
to
have
endorsed
any
product
or
service
but
the
frenzy
of
brands
and
corporates
associating
with
the
movie
Kabali
seems
to
throw
up
a
new
concept
in
brand
promotion,
said
a
brand
consultant.
"It
is
a
clever
way
of
riding
on
the
excitement
of
a
big
movie
starring
a
very
big
hero
who
has
not
endorsed
any
product
or
service.
Click
on
the
slider
below
to
check
out
some
of
the
new
stills
from
Kabali
But
in
the
commercials
of
the
brands
associated
with
'Kabali',
there
are
a
few
scenes
from
the
movie
featuring
only
Rajinikanth
and
a
voice-over
about
the
product,"
Ramanujam
Sridhar,
founder
and
Chief
Executive
Officer,
Brand
Comm,
a
brand
consulting
company,
told
IANS.
"Nowhere
in
the
commercials
of
such
brands,
the
hero
was
seen
to
endorse
the
product
or
talks
about
the
product,"
Sridhar
added.
Normally
an
advertisement
for
a
movie
will
feature
the
images
of
hero,
heroine,
villain
and
music
director.
If
the
product
commercials
are
actually
a
promotion
for
the
movie
Kabali,
the
brand
owners
have
leveraged
only
Rajinikanth's
image
in
the
movie
with
some
movie
clippings.
However,
the
brand
owners
do
leverage
Rajinikanth's
title
'superstar'
in
their
commercials
and
also
his
movie
image.
For
instance,
Cadbury
Five
Star
'Kabali'
commercial,
though
featuring
the
Ramesh-Suresh
characters,
also
has
some
scenes
from
the
movie
and
ends
with
the
tag
line
'Superstar's
Five
Star'.
AirAsia,
the
official
airline
partner
for
Kabali
announced
'Fly
like
a
Superstar'
promotion.
On
the
other
hand,
Kerala-based
company
Muthoot
Fincorp
partnered
with
movie
to
roll
out
exclusive
silver
coins
with
an
embossed
image
of
Rajinikanth
as
seen
in
the
movie.
Of
all
the
brands
that
are
associated
with
the
movie
Kabali,
it
is
Emami's
Fair
and
Handsome'
brand
for
fairness
cream
that
would
make
one's
eyebrows
raise.
There
have
been
songs
and
dialogues
in
Rajinikanth's
movies
praising
his
dark
skin.
Here,
a
skin
fairness
cream
gets
associated
with
Rajinikanth's
movie
and
its
commercial
also
features
scenes
from
the
Kabali
movie.
Sridhar
says
the
movie
seems
to
have
started
a
new
concept
called
"surrogate
endorsement".
"There
have
been
commercials
for
brands
with
mimicking
the
voice
of
celebrities.
It
is
not
known
whether
any
celebrity
whose
voice
was
mimicked
had
taken
up
the
issue
legally," Sridhar
said.
"Similarly,
the
'Kabali'
advertisements
could
be
termed
as
akin
to
that
but
the
celebrity's
image
is
replaced
by
the
mimicked
voice,"
he
added.
Brand
owners
associated
with
Kabali
movie
said
that
Rajinikanth
is
not
endorsing
their
products
or
service.