Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘insensitive’ comments to dent brand image?

Ranbir Kapoor’s much-awaited and talked about comeback on the big screen after a gap of four years could have accelerated the growth of his brand value, which remained almost static during his absence from Bollywood. But his recent remarks on actress-producer wife Alia Bhatt’s pregnancy weight during an interview have gained a lot of negative publicity for the actor.

Though he promptly apologised for a ‘bad joke’ that quite did not land, older interviews of him making his female co-stars ‘uncomfortable’ surfaced over the web, starting a whole discussion on social media and traditional publications too, about his personality and ‘misogynistic’ and ‘problematic’ behaviour.

Could this pang of controversy hamper brand Ranbir Kapoor’s image, which largely remained of a good boy next door and a chivalrous charmer? e4m finds out.

Brand Ranbir Kapoor 

Ranbir Kapoor entered Bollywood in 2007 when the industry was reworking its ways to present a hero on the screen. From the angry action stars who also romanced to bringing in the quintessential charming boy-next-door who had their own journeys and not necessarily villains to fight, the image of the hero was changing. And Kapoor, with very smart choices of films from early on in his career – be it Saawariya, Barfi, or Wake Up Sid, placed himself as a ‘new-age’ actor. His boyish charm, his appeal to the young millennials, and good looks instantly got him attention from the brands too. He started endorsing Tata DoCoMo, Pepsi, Lays, Panasonic, Virgin Mobile quite early on. 

As his films matured, so did his brand image and equity. After associating with movies like Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani and Tamasha, he became a hit amongst automobile, financial services, and technology brands as well, which were now talking to the adventurous and ambitious millennials. Between 2015 and 2017, he remained amongst the top automobile endorsers in the country. 

And despite his absence from the big screen over the past four years, his popularity among brands remained quite stable. As Duff & Phelps India Pvt Ltd Aviral Jain shares, “His positioning of being cool, energetic, reliable, and trustworthy has provided him sustained access across business segments despite not having box office releases. Accordingly, his brand value has remained within a close range around USD 25mn (approximately Rs 1.99 hundred core) with a brand ranking in the lower quartile of India’s top 20 over the last four years.”

Source: Duff & Phelp Celebrity Brand Valuation Reports 

Impact on brand value 

According to Jain, Kapoor’s wedding to Alia Bhatt (April 2022) and his upcoming big-ticket release, Brahmastra are the factors that must work in the favour of his brand value skyrocketing once again. His comments on Alia, for which he has apologised, might not have a big impact on his value, “Ranbir’s case may be perceived differently by the Indian audience and marketeers. Ranbir, as a human being, is considered to be an epitome of humbleness. Further, he has also apologized for his irresponsible comment on Alia, and admitted that he has a bad sense of humour. Hence, this shouldn’t lead to any major impact on him, rather brand collaborations may rise as the initial feedback for Brahmāstra comes out in coming weeks,” he added. 

Presenting a contrary view was Trieze Communication Founder & CEO Sonam Shah who feels his irresponsible comments could affect his popularity amongst the brands. “Brands are getting very selective with who they connect or partner nowadays. Be it celebs or even social media influencers, brands are following the voice of the audience. His recent comment on Alia Bhat has shown a very insensitive side of him to the audience. This will impact his brand image.” 

His absence from the big screen and brand space as well for a while, and the young breed of actors filling in the space he left blank are quite not working in his favour, added Shah. Kapoor’s absence from social media could also act as a deterrent to his popularity among the new age brands. 

“Ranbir will have an image change as he enters into his new phase of life. He will get brand offers, but those will be from kids or parenting brands, and it would be more from capitalising his wife's following on social media. There has been a great spike in brands partnering with real-life couples and that space is highly competitive with Deepika-Ranveer, Virat-Anushka, Vicky-Katrina, already leading. Also, Ranbir and Alia have a large age gap, which may get challenging for a brand to connect with. His last release, Shamsera bombed at the BO and with Bollywood still being in a boycott area, chances of a magnum opus like Brahmastra succeding at BO is low.” 

A media observer, albeit, quipped that his comments or the older interviews won’t make much of a dent in his brand value if Brahmastra manages to win over the audience. “Audiences have a short memory. One big hit and he will get the love all over again. But keeping the ‘boycott Bollywood’ trend and the mixed response movie is getting, it’s difficult to predict the future right now. But a lot depends on this film and his subsequent projects.”