Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

  • I’ll start with what I read. I finished [easyazon_link identifier=”0451490045″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]The Husband’s Secret[/easyazon_link] and it did have a twist – really glad I read it and it’s definitely the same vibe as her other book, Big Little Lies. Next, I read [easyazon_link identifier=”1477824758″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Yellow Crocus[/easyazon_link] and it really was an eye-opening look at slavery in the USA and how slaves helped raise the owner’s children. It was hard to read because it was so sad to think about, but I think everyone should know this story. I then read [easyazon_link identifier=”0812988027″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]The Girls[/easyazon_link] by Emma Cline which was an intense book about a young girl joining a cult which takes on a Charles Manson vibe. I read this so fast because it was just something you couldn’t put down. I just started [easyazon_link identifier=”0544292669″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Norwegian By Night[/easyazon_link] but am having a hard time getting into it. 
  • I got back from Florida and spent the weekend up at Lake Erie with my family. After that, it was just chilling in Ohio, a family reunion in Cinci, and going back up to Erie to go fishing for walleye on my dad’s boat. 
  • I’ve started a monthly newsletter that will have some more up to date news since my blog posts are always so far behind. I might stop sending out the weekly emails that sum up my blog posts since you can just come to my blog website and see them :) If you read this from your email, and still want the emails please comment that in the comments of this post so I know.

Now your story,

How have I never told you it’s illegal to advertise alcohol in India!?

India has banned so many things, and advertising alcohol is just one of them. But that doesn’t mean you don’t see advertisements, it just means they are more clever!

goa monsoon anjuna

One of my favorite ads is a commercial on the TV for a CD you can buy sponsored by Sula Wine… but when you search this CD it doesn’t even exist. 

This is a form of advertising called Surrogate advertising and it’s a real thing.

Surrogate advertising is a form of advertising which is used to promote banned products, like cigarettes and alcohol, in the disguise of another product. This type of advertising uses a product of a fairly close category, as: club soda, mineral water in case of alcohol, or products of a completely different category (for example, music CD’s or playing cards) to hammer the brand name into the heads of consumers. The banned product (alcohol or cigarettes) may not be projected directly to consumers but rather masked under another product under the same brand name, so that whenever there is mention of that brand, people start associating it with its main product (the alcohol or cigarette). In India there is a large number of companies doing surrogate advertising, from Bacardi Blast music CD’s, Bagpiper Club Soda to Officers Choice playing cards.

You feel like everywhere you look are advertisements for alcohol in India, but if you look closely that is not what’s being advertised in the commercial, on the billboard, or well, anywhere. Alcohol brands host award shows, festivals, CDs, mineral water, and club soda. You can read more about it here. 

But when I say they advertise through water, I literally mean they sell water and advertise their brand that way when everyone knows they are advertising booze. Here’s an example for Fosters:

One very popular advertisement is for the Kingfisher calendar. Kingfisher is the local beer and it’s logo is painted on nearly every home and shop along Anjuna. The calendar features a different girl each month. Their whole advertising goal is to team up with anything that seems like “a good time”, their motto.

Kingfisher even teamed up with 5 teams from the IPL (Indian cricket team) and basically sponsors them, and they get advertising (this is kind of like how names of brands are on the side of cars in NASCAR).

This is their Facebook page, currently:

kingfisher india

The article above mentions the Johnny Walker Awards for Excellence, which is a way for them to advertise their Whiskey by giving out awards to people for their achievements in their career and life. 

In case you’re wondering, the ad below is for Hayward’s Beer… but it’s all about their new academy and how it will change your life.

But this one is really where it’s at. An ad for Blender’s Pride fashion tour… as they finally say at the end. Lol, I love it!