The Quiet Realism Of India’s Advertising Boardrooms |
A quiet realism is settling into boardrooms, and it deserves more empathy than critique. The modern CMO is not timid. The CMO is responding rationally to an equation where the risks and returns are fundamentally, and increasingly, uneven.
Once upon a time, advertising bravery was celebrated as a necessary gamble. A bold campaign could provoke, polarise, and still ultimately elevate a brand into cultural memory. Today, the same boldness carries a very different weight. The upside remains largely symbolic: a “remembered” and even an awarded campaign, a fleeting moment of relevance. The downside, however, is sharper, faster, and far more personal.
It is, quite simply, no longer a fair trade.
In recent years, we have seen multiple instances of brands, sometimes with intent, sometimes inadvertently, venturing into sharp, culturally loaded storytelling. The goal is often noble: to stand out, to take a stance, to resonate deeply with a specific community. And indeed, resonance does happen. But it is quiet. It does not trend.
Offence, on the other hand, does.
What follows is almost procedural. A section of the audience feels misrepresented or slighted. Social media amplifies the grievance. Hashtags emerge, outrage compounds, and the narrative quickly escapes the brand’s control. Calls for boycotts surface. The brand responds, retracts, and apologises. The campaign is withdrawn. The conversation lingers, but rarely in the brand’s favour.
What is telling is the........