Kellogg’s vs EatFit row: Ogilvy’s Prem Narayan gives his take

Last week, EatFit, a healthy food platform housed under Curefoods, alleged that Kellogg’s India and its agency partner Ogilvy copied its campaign’s tagline.

Kellogg’s denied the allegations and said in a statement, “Kuch Kar Dikhane Ki Bhookh is a commonly used term and lacks exclusivity to any campaign. It can’t be called proprietary material, unless the same is protected under the Indian legal context.”

Sharing the timeline of Kellogg’s campaign, Prem Narayan, chief strategy officer at Ogilvy, informs that the script was finished last August.

“It then went to a third-party research agency, whose report came in September. So, there can’t be any question of either Ogilvy or the brand copying the ad.”

Also, the concept and context of both the ads in question, as per Narayan, are different. Kellogg’s is talking to mothers and kids, with the thought behind the campaign being that only when the kids’ stomach is full, will they be hungry to do more.

Narayan states that Curefoods has used the phrase just as a part of its larger campaign. The brand has also used other phrases, like Chill Marne Ki Bhookh and Chooti Khushiyon Ki Bhookh. Kuch Kar Dikhane Ki Bhookh is just one of the lines that the brand has used.

Narayan is of the opinion that Bhookh (hunger) is a common word and has been used by different brands in different contexts. The company also doesn’t have a trademark on the word or the phrase.

“Even if the two brands were saying the same thing in a similar context, plagiarism is a too much of a claim. If it is established that the two campaigns are created on a similar thought and the articulation is also same, then the matter must be discussed and debated. In this case, I don’t see that at all.”

The matter is currently with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), and both the brands will shortly present their respective cases to the industry body.