When brands become vultures in the name of moment marketing

New Delhi: These days, brands are perpetually on the hunt to hijack every trending hashtag, viral meme, or fleeting controversy. It’s not easy to be culturally relevant in real time, as it takes agility, wit, and a finger on the pulse.

For years, I admired that craft and defended moment marketing as a brave expression of brand voice, even when it poked fun at other brands’ missteps, so long as it challenged regressive norms.

But the recent Coldplay kiss cam incident has forced a reckoning.

The kiss cam gate in Boston was virtually the public implosion of two private lives. Astronomer’s then-CEO Andy Byron and his colleague, Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, were caught being cosy on camera mid-embrace at a Coldplay concert.

Within hours, the internet had identified them, destroying their careers, reputations, and family.

And just as fast, brands pounced.

IKEA, Pizza Hut, Duolingo, and many more brands rode on this controversy as part of their moment marketing strategy.

But the one that hit hardest was Amul, a brand beloved for its culturally clever doodles, trusted for decades to reflect Indian sentiment with humour and heart.

In its topical ad, Amul depicted Byron and Cabot under the lens of the kiss cam, with its iconic mascot looking on. The caption read, “Hum tum ek camera mein bandh ho. Only scoops, no oops.”

For those unfamiliar, the line riffs on the romantic Bollywood song Hum tum ek kamre mein band ho from the 1973 film Bobby. Amul replaced kamre (room) with camera, a cheeky twist intended to amuse.

While Amul misread it as romance, it was a personal crisis — unravelling a marriage and telling a story of a professional downfall.

And Amul, like many others, turned it into a punchline.

What happened to the dignity that Amul carried on its sleeves for decades? It was unbecoming of a brand of this stature to ignore the concept of discretion.

One can hear comments such as “Well, the guy shouldn’t have done it in public.”

That kind of thinking is dangerous because it assumes public missteps deserve public shaming.

It implies that once a private failing becomes viral, it's fair game for ridicule.

But the truth is that this could happen to anyone. One poor decision, a moment of weakness, followed by a camera.

In the Coldplay kiss cam case, what exactly was funny? A marriage imploding? A career-ending? A viral humiliation? We didn’t just laugh at them — we monetised it. Turned their crisis into clickbait. Used their real-life pain as a prop.

What should have been a cautionary tale about surveillance culture became a case study in corporate insensitivity.

Imagine if brands had instead chosen to stand against voyeurism, digital shaming, and the rush to cancel. Instead, they joined the mob.

Every brand wants to be “woke,” “real,” “in the moment.” But at what cost?

Because when moment marketing becomes your only voice, you risk losing your soul.

Some of the best brand work emerges from cultural moments. But it’s time we asked ourselves three simple questions before pressing “post”:

1. Is this rooted in public interest or private tragedy?
2. Are we punching up or punching down?
3. Will this make someone laugh, or bleed?

Brands need to remember that not everything is funny, and not every trend is fair game.

Relevance without empathy is just noise. And the world has enough of that already.

To the marketers, creatives, and agencies reading this, today, it’s them, but tomorrow, it could be you. A clumsy ad. A cultural misstep. An intern’s tweet gone wrong. The same social media mob will turn on you. And the same brands that joined you in mocking others will ghost you when it’s your turn in the hot seat.

Let’s bring back ethics and build brands on values, because when brands behave like vultures, they just feed until the carcass is gone.