Letters: 'Ad' nauseam

This refers to the report “Cadbury joins children’s responsible marketing pledge” (May 25). How can Cadbury even claim to be a “responsible” company? At present, we see the company indulging in saturation advertising by airing an advertisement that denigrates two of the most nutritious vegetables — bottle gourd (lauki) and bitter gourd (karela). It is difficult enough to get children to eat vegetables and it doesn’t help with Cadbury bombarding every IPL match with this kind of a negative campaign against nutrition. Also, some time ago, the company launched a TV campaign for Cadbury Celebrations, which suggested that books don’t make for a good gift. I think when it comes to marketing we can use these examples of Cadbury’s campaign to identify what constitutes irresponsible advertising.

 

Manas Saikia, on email

II

Though the chocolate major, Cadbury, has joined the group of companies that had last year pledged “not to advertise their food and beverage products to children below 12 years”, it has not addressed the issue of using children for its advertisements. Should some action not be taken against this practice?

Jacob Sahayam, Thiruvananthapuram

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