YesMadam fiasco: Brands going too far with shock advertising

New Delhi: You have been living under a rock if you are not aware of the best corporate joke YesMadam cracked on its employees. 

YesMadam, the doorstep beauty platform, has been facing the wrath of netizens after it allegedly terminated employees who raised concerns about workplace stress. However, it was later revealed as a marketing campaign aimed at highlighting the issue of workplace stress, which drew significant backlash for its insensitivity.

The fiasco, however disgusting it may sound, raises a broader question: Is good old-fashioned storytelling dead?

Presenting a response to the query, Raj Kamble, Founder and CCO of Famous Innovations, said, “Unfortunately, we are today living in an echo chamber called social media, in which we are all just seeing each other's work and patting each other on the back without any reality of how consumers are perceiving brands that do this work and what is the long-term impact of this work. In fact, I think most of the shock value work or bizarre tactics are being done for LinkedIn and not for any real consumer impact. Coming to traditional and ethical marketing methods, I think yes, brands can definitely achieve the same level of engagement and visibility through them.

If you think through time, the most memorable brand work that you will also think of, top of mind, will always be traditional and ethical, be it Raymond's Complete Man, be it Cadbury, be it Fevicol, be it many, many other brands that have been built the same way. The only challenge with those is probably those are long-term building efforts and today people are just not thinking long-term anymore. Everyone is here for that instant spike that gets them some awards and that's it. But in these cases, I don't think all press is good press.”

Speaking his mind on the subject, Anadi Sah, Founding partner, National Creative Director, and Chief Innovation at tgthr, said, “It’s a reality that the market is intensely cluttered and brands vying for consumer attention. This pressure has made the desire to get noticed into desperation that blinds them so much that they cross the boundaries of rational thinking, ethical practices, and basics of brand building.”

Adding to Sah’s words, Abhik Santara, CEO & Director, ^ a t o m Network, said, “Smaller brands have huge pressures to create impact before reach. Reach is an expensive affair, so this is used as a short-cut method. I didn’t hear about YesMadam as a brand before this. So it has definitely worked. But will I ever buy them? Definitely no. The PTSD will stay with me for a while. That’s where some of the brands go wrong.”

Providing an interesting take on what leads brands towards controversy, Nisha Sampath, Managing Partner at Bright Angles Consulting LLP, said, “It is an obsession with the media lens vs the brand lens that is leading brands toward controversy. If your starting point is ‘How can I achieve fame?’, you will think differently than if your starting point is ‘How can I grow my brand’?”

Has good old-fashioned storytelling lost its charm?

Manforce faced criticism for using the Hindu festival Navratri to promote condoms, which was seen as disrespectful to cultural sentiments. This bizarre incident of moment marketing forces us to ask the question:  Has good old-fashioned storytelling lost its charm?

Sharing her thoughts on the subject, Piali Dasgupta Surendran, Fractional CMO and Brand Advisor, said, “A good story still wins. Don't we all binge-watch long-form content and commit to it? Do we skip them? No! Because there's great storytelling at play. So, content is still king, and so is context. If you focus on high-quality, relevant content that's original, relevant, built on a cultural truth, and brings to the fore a powerful consumer insight, people will engage with it. The right kind of humour also goes a long way in getting people's attention. 

Ultimately, it's really about understanding how to break away from the fatigue and focusing on quality content instead of quantity. Quite a few recent campaigns have delivered a great amount of freshness: the TMT bar ad with SRK, Alia, and Ranbir Kapoor, the Spotify Wrapped featuring Jackie Shroff and Ananya Pandey, and a non-celebrity ad from Zepto about a classical dancer using dance mudras to request a woman in the audience to fetch her sanitary napkins. All examples of relevant, fresh, humorous, and engaging storytelling.”

Do you remember when Zomato announced a Chief of Staff role requiring a Rs 20 lakh fee and no salary for the first year? The fee was later clarified as a filter to find dedicated candidates, but the unusual job posting sparked widespread criticism and debate about modern hiring practices.

Amidst the chaos and the need to scream and shout, can brands achieve the same level of engagement and visibility through more traditional and ethical marketing methods?

Weighing in on the discussion, Chandana Agarwal - President of North and East at 82.5, said, “It is not about ethics but about what you are after. Engagement and visibility by themselves mean nothing if they don’t lead to brand love or commerce. I am not a big fan of stoking the emotions of people for the heck of it. The only argument for it would be a shortcut to create awareness. But decision-making, as we all know, is as much about the subliminal codes as about the ones above the surface. Subliminally, a brand that misuses my emotions and stands for trivialising issues important to me is a brand that I would not be positively predisposed to.

More brands may opt for it till such time that people stop paying attention to this and then something new will appear. A campaign that requires an ‘apology’ within hours is reckless; it disrespects the sentiments of their audience.”

Consumer perception

We have discussed why brands resort to bizarre advertisements for marketing but what about the customer’s side of the story? How do customers perceive such brands and what happens to the brand equity of such brands?

Answering the query, Santara said, “Many of us see them through an advertising filter and may not be the right TG to judge the effectiveness. There is a minuscule but strong fraternity, which will raise the voice of righteousness in social media. And then we will move on.

For naive consumers, the brands do get easy top-of-mind awareness. “Suna toh hai, but don’t remember the chaos"—will be the most common refrain from consumers at large after the dust settles.”

Expanding her thoughts along similar lines as Santara, Surendran said, “I keep going back to the golden and evergreen words of the great David Ogilvy, who said, ‘The customer is not a moron. The customer is your wife.’ 

Ogilvy said that almost 70 years ago, and in a pre-internet era. And this is truer than ever in the post-internet era. I don't know why marketers and agency professionals forget this ultimate truth. The customer is not a fool, and she can see through gimmicks of all kinds. If it's just about capturing the audience's attention, there are all kinds of outlandish ways of doing it, including creating shock value with outrageous messaging, much like what YesMadam did.

But creating shock and grabbing eyeballs is not the same as earning trust. The first doesn't necessarily lead to the second. On the contrary, gimmick-driven antics such as this do much to erode customer trust. The question customers are likely to ask is: If a brand can stoop to such levels only for the sake of a 24-hour publicity blitzkrieg, what sort of tactics will they resort to when it comes to selling their services?”

What to hope for in 2025?

We asked experts if, moving forward in 2025, more and more brands will opt for bizarre marketing methods. Here’s what they had to say.

Asking brands to be a bit more thoughtful in 2025, Santara said, “Bizarre, yes, but outrageous, no. Brand activities face serious scrutiny on social media, leaving no room for escape. It seems like there's a secret club dedicated to this profession. With recent examples in mind, I'm sure brand owners will be more mindful of their behaviour and statements to create impact and stay relevant.”

What about creative agencies?

The brands responsible for such myopic campaigns constantly come under fire but what about the creative agencies that design them? Should creative agencies not feel responsible for such mishaps?

Holding creative agencies equally accountable for such mishaps, Sah said, “Creative agencies are equally responsible for such mishaps as they play a crucial role in shaping brand campaigns. We often forget that and end up holding only the brand responsible. I have seen most agencies shout out loud for successful campaigns but very few have taken ownership of failed ones.

As responsible partners, creative agencies must work closely with clients to ensure that campaigns are not only disruptive but also responsible and respectful. Creative agencies in the business of advertising should always advise the brands that while shock tactics may grab headlines, but rarely build lasting brand relationships, as you need to know the rules for them to be broken.”

To wrap it up in the words of Sampath, “Brands like BoldFit and Cred are striking a balance between storytelling and engaging through unexpected ways, creating a new age of storytelling. However, all storytelling requires patience. 

While we often discuss the patience of consumers, we seldom address the patience needed from founders, marketers, and business owners to see results from communication. If you seek immediate results, you may favour controversial and bizarre approaches. However, if you are patient and play for the long term, your approach will be more balanced.”