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When Scotch-Brite got unexpected fame in a fictitious hospital
Screenshots of a scene from Zee Bangla went viral after someone tweeted about the showmakers' use of Scotch-Brite as a makeshift medical equipment. This is the brand's second tryst with unintended publicity in two months.
Well, well, well… Scotch-Brite, which is owned by 3M Company, an American multinational conglomerate, is the talk of the town again.
Recently, communication consultant Karthik Srinivasan had called out the brand for its India logo which, along with the brand name, includes a woman with a ’bindi’ on her forehead. He tried to draw attention to the fact that such a logo helps reinforce existing gender stereotypes and sexism in society, and that cleaning isn’t a woman’s job alone.
Now, the brand has gone viral again after a netizen tweeted a screenshot of a Zee Bangla show ‘Krishnakoli’, in which onscreen doctors are seen using what seems like a Scotch-Brite bathroom scrubber, instead of a defibrillator machine.
The doctors are attempting to save a dying patient. In the scene in question, we assume the doctors were to use a defibrillator that delivers a dose of electric current to the heart. The makers of the show use two Scotch-Brite scrubbers, instead.
The triangle-shaped scrubber, with a flat surface and a handle, is used mainly for cleaning bathroom tiles and stained floors and corners.
After the scene went viral on social media, the show's producer clarified that the makers were under a lot of pressure, which led to the mistake, a News18 report stated. ‘Krishnakoli’ producer Sushanta Das told India Times, "My team is very efficient, and I am proud of the director and the art director. All I want to say is that mistakes are likely to take place if you do some real work."
The last time the brand earned unintended publicity, it was very quick to respond to it. It didn’t take long for 3M to respond to Srinivasan’s LinkedIn post. Atul Mathur, head of marketing, consumer business at 3M India, took note of Srinivasan’s post. Mathur responded by saying that the work on changing the logo is already underway and that the new logo would be unveiled in a few months. However, the brand hasn’t yet acknowledged the latest ‘incidental’ publicity.
Watch this space for more.