Brand marketing stunts create noise but little else

PUMA's PVMA campaign and YesMadam's email layoff stunt spark debate on controversial marketing, highlighting risks and potential backlash for brands.

In early January, German sportswear brand PUMA created a buzz on social media when it changed its billboards and store signage to read PVMA. Some thought it was a typographical error while others reckoned it had something to do with PUMA’s brand ambassador, Virat Kohli. As it turned out, the company had onboarded Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu as its ambassador. The temporary altering of the company name to include Sindhu’s initials was to welcome the partnership and mark PUMA’s entry into the badminton category with high-performance range in footwear, apparel and accessories. PVMA sparked online chatter with people either appreciating or panning the move.

Brand marketing stunts create noise but little else

Another such recent marketing stunt put the home salon start up YesMadam in the line of fire on social media when it posted that it had sacked a number of its employees via email for complaining about stress at work. The instant backlash eventually forced the company to clarify that the post was part of a planned marketing campaign to talk about stress at work. Consumers trashed the marketing stunt for treating a serious issue like layoffs frivolously. The only upside of the controversy was that people who had never heard of the YesMadam app became aware of the service brand.

Early last year, Indian model Poonam Pandey was similarly trolled when she faked her own death in an Instagram post to raise awareness about cervical cancer. Though her motive may have been honourable, the hoax was criticized by her fans and followers for deception and emotional shock. Pandey argued her post got people talking about the disease and the cervical cancer vaccine for young girls.

Increased instances of such marketing move by brands pushed brand strategist Shan Jain to highlight “controversy” as a major marketing tool to drive consumer engagement in her predictions for 2025.

Controversy will be the new engagement strategy where bold campaigns will win awards and trigger rants on X, proving that all publicity is good if it gets people talking about the brand, Jain said. She cited the oft-repeated adage, “Controversy in marketing is nothing but the art of strategic provocation.”

At its core, controversial marketing is about presenting bold ideas that challenge norms, provoke discussion, and ignite emotion. It creates space for thought in an otherwise crowded space, Jain added. If executed well, it grabs attention, heightens engagement through debates where audiences become emotionally invested, she added.

In his Linkedin post, Lakshmipathy Bhat, former adman and SVP global marketing and communications at Robosoft Technologies, said PUMA turning temporarily into PVMA has been hailed by some as the “next big idea after sliced bread”. Lots of such “engagement farming posts masquerading as insights” make youngsters mistakenly assume that these are real business-changing advertising ideas.

Business and brand strategy expert Harish Bijoor agreed that such gimmicks draw eyeballs, create noise and bring the brand to the centre stage of controversy. “But that’s it. It is spit and run marketing at its best,” he said, adding that the impact lasts only as long as the noise and controversy lasts.

Bijoor said many digital agencies are under pressure from their clients to “bring in the new and the different.” In pursuit of a creative to go viral, they resort to all kinds of gimmicks. In the bargain, brands can plunge from the sublime to the ridiculous. “The quest for attention makes every brand a brat,” Bijoor added.

He cited the example of the Zomato CEO and his post on recruitment of a chief of staff. “That was one such stunt. A move was made. It was taken back. Rollbacks are the norm when a controversy erupts,” he said. Such gimmicks hurt the brand and the biggest loss is that of credibility, he added.

Shan Jain agreed that the balance between sparking dialogue and provoking disaster is delicate. If done shoddily, controversy as a marketing tool can alienate audiences some of whom might “disengage or leave altogether,” she said.

However, since the world is full of diverse opinions, controversies are okay and social media lets people express themselves, Jain added. But they are a strict no-no if they are misleading or upset certain sensibilities.