Stars lend blitz to firecrackers
This Diwali when you go shopping for your firecrackers don't be surprised to see Hollywood stars like Mariah Carey endorsing firecracker brands. She of course knows nothing about it. They are not paid to be brand ambassadors but the stars are not complaining. At the capital of firecracker units as many as 20 brands are riding on their popularity.
It's almost like a competition between brands to get every famous face. One can find them all from Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta to the sizzling Mallika Sherawat. Keeping Shahrukh Khan company are faces like Asin and Jyotika adding a touch of power and glitter to crackers and sparklers. And the trick seems to have clicked.
"People like the display of their favourite film stars. The performance of these varieties is also quite interesting," said Selvam, manager, Vinayaka Fireworks. "This way we can expect a great turnover," said Subhasingh Chelladurai, Director, Standard Fireworks.
And yes we all know the craze for Hollywood flicks and western pop in India. But the choice of Mathew McConaughey and Mariah Carey leaves us speechless. Firework traders insist pretty faces don't make for crackling sales. "People who want to buy a certain kind of cracker will buy it irrespective of whose face is on it. They want to know about sound and light generally and don't even glance at who the star on the cover is," said Altaf Masood, Firework trader, Mumbai.
From Hollywood, Bollywood, Kollywood Mollywood and Tollywood stars from every film industry seem to have found place on firework wrappings. But the question is does this help sale of fireworks or help stars push their popularity skywards literally? "Always an attractive hero or heroine, whatever product you sell it really works. Otherwise you will not have kushboo idlys," said Sreedhar Pillai, Film Critic.
Film stars are known to make tidy packets out of every endorsement. And yet down the years if none of them have ever got or asked for anything from the firework manufacturers it surely must have to do with the piggy back popularity. (NDTV Movies)
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