When leaders endorse....

We see almost every single star, be it from the field of sports, film, art of anywhere endorsing products on TV.  But have you ever seen Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh or Narendra Modi endorse any product? Well, for beginners, they are not allowed to endorse and that is pretty much the rule all over the world.  But what if some well known leader unwittingly endorses a product? Be assured, it will cause a runaway hit product! Modi, in one of his speeches, just as a matter of fact mentioning Jassuben’s pizza in Ahmedabad made it a world famous name, with everyone from Wall Street to zee covering it.  If only the company had been listed!

In China, of all the people, the premier of their country,  Li Kequiang’s went visiting the recently earthquake hit province in China and there, in a makeshift tent, was pictured eating Fuling pickles for breakfast, with a bowl of plain rice porridge.. This is one of China’s largest producers of the Sichuan-style preserved pickle known for its spicy, sour and salty taste. On a day when the market tanked, the stock price of this pickle company soared over 7%. Also the maker of the tent in which the Chinese premier sat, Susino Umbrella, also witnessed a sharp spike up in its stock price. Last month, a few Chinese fashion designer/manufacturing company stock prices hit the roof after Peng Liyuan, wife of President Xi Jinping, was pictured wearing local brands of outfits, bags and accessories on her first trip abroad as China’s First Lady. Some of the products that Ms. Peng wore were declared sold off on popular internet shopping portals like Taobao within hours of the release of her photos.

Call it whacky behavior or whatever, this reflects the consumerism mindset in the country.  Consumption themes made popular by celebrities is the name of the game. The behavior might not be very different if the same were to happen in India. After all Gandhiji is the biggest reason why khadi is what it is today....