Idiocy in Istaanbul
James Bond and Aston Martin together make an irresistible combination. Two of the finest bands together.But what about when Savile Row Co, London announces to us that they have done the wardrobe job for the movie Mission Istaanbul?
Me? I wanna laugh out loud.
Savile Row's pick couldn't get any worse. Listen to what Rajeev Masand has to say about the film; 'Mission Istaanbul, this week's new Bollywood release, is not only a bad film, it's also a highly offensive film. If it was merely a mindless action film, one might have been more forgiving, but in fact Mission Istaanbul disguises itself as a film that takes a serious look at international terrorism, as a film that questions the commercialization of news...
Look closely and perhaps you'll notice Mission Istaanbul is full of homoerotic undertones. Whether it's the manner in which the camera lingers over Nikitan Dheer's every muscle, every sinew; or that awkward scene in the Turkish bath where all characters dressed in nothing but towels, their torsos glistening with sweat, meet and greet each other with bear-hugs, or discuss wounds on their bodies. Even that wink-wink, playful relationship between Vivek Oberoi and Zayed Khan is nothing short of sheer man-on-man love....
In the end the bucks stop with director Apoorva Lakhia who's also credited as the co-writer of this film. He takes an interesting premise and botches it up with neither style nor substance. I'm going to go with one out of five for Mission Istaanbul, it's one of those films that's so bad that you might actually want to check it out. Because believe me there's nothing more amusing than a terrible film that takes itself so seriously.'
Now we can forgive Savile Row for having jumped on to the 'Mission Istaanbul' bandwagon, as they couldn't have known how the movie would turn out. Now that they know how bad Bollywood movies generally are, they may be wary to latch on in the future.
Brands should be careful about who they 'truck' with. That's cause, a sinking cohort may just pull you along into the abyss.
Comments
An interesting post on brands but i again have a different viewpoint
In this case , it was the movie that may have latched on to the "Savile Row" tag .
Mission Istanbul might have tried to gain more PR , by saying the actors are dressed in Savile Row suits rather than the other way around
Savile Row's target market is basically UK,US and France , and frankly they really might not have ruffled a feather when Mission Istanbul bombed in India
and I kindly request you to review my latest article on brand loyalty in Coke and Pepsi .Thanks
(P.S. I work under Anil Srinivasan in Recraft Retail Consulting,as a Consultant. I presume you two know each other and are good friends)
Dis-associations cannot be undone. Be it brands or otherwise. I think this is an error on Savile Row's part so as to latch on to a movie without knowing what would happen? or may be they did and still wanted to?
The thing about abyss is cool and true. Any brand should think and rethink before being associated with some other entity. It might rob you off the shine.
Either way it doesn't matter, Savile Row does itself a disservice being tagged with the movie...I guess, Savile Row is considering India as a potential market of the future...
Nice article...Pls. check my views on the same -
http://buyerbehaviour.blogspot.com/2008/07/brand-loyalty-possible.html
Oh yes, Anil's a good friend.... :)