Gandhi: The brand the world flaunts!

From Swiss luxury giant Mont Blanc to Bollywood blockbuster 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace and non-violence, has now become a brand the world proudly flaunts.

Yes, more than six decades after his assassination, the icon of India's Independence has moved beyond road signs, statues and artists' strokes to a modern and digital image, seen in promos and advertisements.

On his 140th birth anniversary, Gandhi, once called the 'Naked Fakir', lives on in luxury brands, tees and even many popular flicks — he's now very much a part of the Remix Generation's psyche.

Sanjay Dutt-starrer 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' in 2006 was an instant hit with the Bollywood actor demystifying the ideologies of the 'Father of the Nation' with "Gandhigiri".

Adman Alyque Padamsee, who played Mohammed Ali Jinnah in "Gandhi" says that "Brand Gandhi" is still the most powerful Indian idol celebrated globally.

"International leaders from Martin Luther King Jr to Barack Obama have all used Brand Gandhi to reach out to the masses."

In fact, Italy's telecom giant Telecom Italiato, and Internet search engine Google have also helped Gandhi to take the centrestage in the 21st century.

To commemorate Gandhi's historic salt march in 1930, Mont Blanc has recently unveiled an 18-carat gold nib plated with rhodium pen which costs Rs 14 lakh — making the Mahatma their brand ambassador.

While the company claims the pen is an ode to him and his ideals, Gandhi's grandson Tushar says: "We must learn to accept that Mont Blanc is not associated with being frugal as Bapu was. Still, they have felt the need to salute his image."

In a recent media interview, Tushar even recalled an anecdote when the makers of highend Audi car had conceived of a campaign, only for Spain, using Gandhi's name.

"I asked them how would they justify the use of Bapu's image in that campaign. They replied it was the 'long-lasting untarnished image of Mahatma Gandhi' that they wanted Audi to be identified with," he said.

In the 1990s, US-based Apple used Gandhi's meditating image to launch its Macintosh range of computers. "That's now a collectors's item," says Tushar adding even Telecom Italiato commercial using Gandhi's image helped it grab many awards.

But, why are multi-million dollar conglomerates so fascinated with Gandhi's image?

Aptly writes novelist Salman Rushdie on Richard Attenborough's film 'Gandhi': "It's as if Gandhi, years after his death, has found in Attenborough the last in his series of billionaire patrons... And rich men, like emperors, have always had a weakness for tame holy men, for saints."  In the US, Gandhi gives tough competition to a lot of fast food joints and other companies who have billboards put up in many cities.

A thin man walking with his lathi (stick) and the caption besides it reads: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind".

A three-hour walk from Temple Underground Station to South Africa House in London is called the Gandhi walk.

And, here in Delhi, many youngsters can be seen sporting Gandhi's face on their tees, bidding for his memorabilia on net and watching films based on his philosophies besides reading books about his life.

Summed up brand expert Harish Bijoor in a recent media interview: "Six years ago a study was undertaken to find out the relevance of Brand Gandhi across 200 countries. The 'Mahatma' was pitted against brands such as Lux and Colgate.

"Respondents in 183 countries said they heard about Gandhi but Colgate and Lux were conspicuous in 40-50 countries."