Shahrukh Khan Gets Tainted By 'IIPM Controversy'

“Five students who paid anywhere between Rs 4.50 lakh and Rs 11 lakh to join a course titled ‘IIPM School of Business and Economy (ISBE)’ are blaming Bollywood biggie Shah Rukh Khan for their woes. The course, offered by Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), Koramangala in Bangalore, turned out to be a correspondence one and, to boot, unrecognised. Even BMTC (Bangalore Municipal Transport Corporation) refused to give them student bus passes.

When the students demanded their money back, the college procured a court injunction barring them from entering the college premises. Left with no option, the five students approached the High Court. Sudha Priya, one of the students, told INN, “We fell for the advertisements that featured Shah Rukh Khan. We thought it must be a very prestigious institution. After we filed the petition in the High Court, Shah Rukh Khan is missing in their advertisements for the last one week.”

During the first hearing late last month, the court asked how Khan was in the advertisements of the college. The college counsel said the actor was the college’s brand ambassador”.

Shah Rukh Khan has been dragged into the current IIPM controversy, but he’s not the only celebrity to have publicly associated with the institute. In addition to Shah Rukh Khan, advertising ‘guru’ Alyque Padamsee had joined Planman Marcom. The IIPM quiz was sponsored by Yamaha, Videocon, LIC, Nokia, Canon and JK Tyres.

Each celebrity and each logo added a layer of credibility for IIPM, resulting in students such as Sudha Priya thinking that IIPM was ‘a very prestigious institution.’

Why wouldn’t Sudha Priya think that Shah Rukh was endorsing IIPM, when photos like this appeared in the press?

The Shah Rukh endorsement is particularly a hard sell. This is how the press release began: “Be it placements at IIPM or its global initiatives, IIPM clearly seems to have remained untouched by the economic recession. At a time when even bollywood has put its projects on hold, in a first of its kind trend setting move, IIPM has now roped in the Badshah of Bollywood, SRK to host their annual business and marketing quiz, for three years! To be held in association with Planman Media’s magazine, 4Ps Business and Marketing it promises to become India’s premiere B-School quiz event!”

And this is how Shah Rukh was quoted in the press release: “I am coming to IIPM and it will be nice to be there!”

The IIPM controversy can serve as a lesson for celebrities. While they can, and should, look at endorsements as a source of income, they should also look at whether the brand they choose to endorse could damage a more valuable brand – their own.