Section 377 verdict, might go into history as the most prominent verdict by the Supreme Court of India in 2018. It being a sensitive topic, it would have a nightmare for lot of copywriters to think that one perfect line that would communicate the message effectively and yet not create a scenario that could harm the brand. Though a lot of hype was built by news and media on the historical judgement, it seems a lot of brands were well-prepared with their take on the issue.
I had managed to save a few of the social media brand communications from various product / service categories. Here is the list of brands classified into product / service category they belong to.
News and Entertainment
92.7 BIG FM Mumbai
It was great to see a radio station show its support for the Section 377. An analogy with the music was a smart play of copy.
Andhadhun Film
Well, I must it was a well set platform for the film. They capitalized well on it.
Bookmyshow
Bookmyshow highlighted the fact that how long it took for many to see the rule in their favor.
Colors
Colors TV showed their support with two key hashtags – 1) #PrideIndia and 2) a Hinglish one – #ChunoApneRang (which means ‘select one’s colour)
Dharma Movies
Dharma Movies widely famous for love story oriented movies, too jumped into the bandwagon.
FoxLife India
FoxLife changed its logo colour to show their support.
MTV
MTV literally called for a party to celebrate the historical judgement.
News18
It was very unusal for a English news channel to share a Hinglish message. Also, the use of hashtag #GayRightsWin seemed to be very trivial.
Romedy Now
Sony Music India
Tata Sky
Vh1 India
Alcohol Brands
Alcohol brand are generally seen promoting the concept of friendship, leadership, team unity etc, but surprisingly to capialize on Section 377 historical judgement, a few of alcohol brands too were seemed to be ready with their stance on the topic.
Absolut
Black Dog Scotch Whisky
Hoegaarden India
Smirnoff
Food and Beverages
It could have been risky for food and beverages brands that are dependent on high volumes. However, it was interesting to see some support for Section 377 judgement come from major food and beverages brands.
Cafe Coffee Day
Dominos India
Faasos
KFC India
Paper Boat
Pringles India
Starbucks India
Lifestyle
I guess it made perfect sense for lifestyle, apparel brand to express their take on the Section 377 verdict. It can be seen below how a few of youth centric and e-commerce brands shared their support.
Fastrack
Flipkart
A analogy with the delivery status of a consignment was a nice play by Flipkart team.
Letspurplle
Myntra
PepeJeans
Spykar
Tanishq Jewellery
The Body Shop
Automobile / Travel / NGO / Publication
Right from a bicycle, motorcycle to a luxury car brand, everyone hit the road to travel this hype route that resulted from the historical Section 377 verdict.
Atlas India
BMW
Goibibo
IndiGo
Ola
TLC
Uber
Volvo Auto
I liked both the tweet copy and the copy on the image. Well, it takes a lot for a global brand to show their support for Section 377 verdict.
Durex
How could one not expect a quirky take from Durex!
Pet Sutra
It was a very cute way to express their support for Section 377 verdict.
Scroll
Which one was your favorite? In case you came across a few more interesting messages, please comment and I will include them to the above list.
I am presently employed as Associate Director (Paid Media) at Performics.Resultrix, a Publicis Groupe company. Prior to this role I was employed with HCL Technologies as Senior Manger (Digital Marketing). My earlier digital marketing assignments were with ZenithOptimediaIndia (Publicis Groupe) and AdGlobal360. You can follow me on Twitter @anandan22 for all conversations on digital marketing.