When jokes land badly
Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, seems to have chugged too much controversy this time. What started as a seemingly ‘light-hearted’ joke has turned into a storm strong enough to spill his brand deals and sponsorship from over.
To begin with, picture entering into a room full of your biggest sponsors with high fives and fist bumps in mind-only to be met with crossed arms and icy glares-reason being an off-color joke about, well, the birds and the bees…made in the most awkward way possible.
Right now social media is burning with hashtags like #boycott_ranveerallahbadia and #unfollow_ranveer_allahbadia; even influencers trained in the game for millions of followers cannot escape the internet’s vengeance. Meanwhile, brands are probably saying in whispers in their boardrooms, “Perhaps let’s not get our product associated with . . . that!”
If influencers were traded on the stock market, Ranveer would be seeing a huge crash right now on its trading floor. B Praak, the famous singer, even pulled out from his appearance on the podcast for the reason that such comments do not align with “’our Indian culture.” And when an FIR is lodged against you, it is not just a PR disaster-it’s a legal catastrophe!
In the apology video, Ranveer said, “Comedy is not my forte.” No arguments there. May be the lesson that can be derived here is, while going against the grain may be creatively fulfilling, trampling-either accidentally or otherwise-over social sensibilities may just leave you jobless, sponsor-less, or perhaps even cancelled.
Digital world offers a swift ride to fame and equally to setbacks for influencers. His transition from being one of the few inspirational podcasters in the Indian context to becoming one of the most controversial examples serves as a stark reminder that words do matter; but perhaps in this age of social media, they mean the most. Will it just be a setback or a permanent mark on his career? Only time will tell. One thing that surely is, when a Bad Joke Goes Wrong, No One Laughs.
