The arrest of bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the cruise ship drugs case, has led to netizens trolling the actor across social media platforms. What’s more, netizens have asked brands to “reconsider” and “remove” the actor as their brand ambassador. Case in point is edtech platform Byju’s which is endorsed by Khan. The edtech platform has drawn a lot of flak on social media platform Twitter. “The ongoing situation may impact brand Shah Rukh Khan in the short term but will have no long term implications. Moreover, brands are not answerable in such cases. They do not need to respond to rants on Twitter. Rather, they should pause their communications as they would not want to associate themselves with negativity in the short term,” Karthik Srinivasan, independent communications consultant, told BrandWagon Online.
Khan, who currently endorses brands such as Byju’s, Big Basket, Dubai Tourism, among others, has close to 42 million followers on Twitter and 26 million followers on Instagram. As per the latest Duff & Phelps Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2020, Khan currently commands a brand value of $51.1 million.
According to brand experts, there will be no adverse impact on the brand Shah Rukh Khan with the ongoing scenario. “Consumers are not affected by these situations directly. Moreover, brands will not stop endorsement deals with him,” Sandeep Goyal, managing director of Rediffusion, stated. BrandWagon Online also reached out to Byju’s but the email did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this story.
For Viren Razdan, MD, Brandnomics, Khan’s association with brands is more long term with equity built over the years and such instances are not likely to damage his image. “It will be hugely premature for brands to have a knee-jerk reaction to an episode which does not involve him at the center of it. Furthermore, it does not impact the brand value or brand power. While it will spur conversations on social media, it will not impact the consumer and the brand directly,” he added further.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, as well as Arbaaz Seth Merchantt and Munmun Dhamecha, have been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the drug bust on Cordelia Cruises’ Empress ship on Sunday, October 3. As of October 4, Aryan Khan was denied bail and has been sent to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau till Thursday, October 7, by a Mumbai court.
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