French Ice Cream lands into hot water

New Delhi

If Shakespeare were alive, he would have said “what is in publicity” instead of “what is in name”. Publicity is all about in transaction of any fresh business today. Whether good or bad, doesn’t matter. All that matter is to gain popularity by fair means or foul. It just happened with Haggen-Dazs ice cream parlour and ‘international-quality’ ice-cream landed it in hot water, when the parlour at Saket here kicked off its business under the tagline “EXLUCIVE PREVIEW FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS! Access restricted only to holders of international passport.”

The controversy all started with the touchy tagline displayed at a South Delhi mall soon spread like wildfire and the owner had to take down the signboard. Arindam Haldar, director, Haagen-Dazs apologized for creating the unintentional controversy, saying “No one was turned away because of nationality.” He further expressed his viewpoint, “Haagen-Dazs is here to tap the Indian market but the sign post clearly smacks of apartheid. And I wonder what went through the minds of creative heads at TBWA, the agency that worked out the teaser campaign.”

The message was intended to suggest that Indians can enjoy, for instance, a taste of the French Riviera, here Häagen-Dazs, without traveling to France. “Unfortunately the reference to the international passport holder on the poster may have led to a significant miscommunication. This was completely unintended and we apologize for creating the misimpression that may have hurt our sentiments as Indians," he further clarified.