Priyanka Tiwari
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The Ranveer Allahbadia controversy risks obliterating everything that's left of India's influencer economy. For the time being, the Supreme Court’s intervention providing relief allowed The Ranveer Show to resume defies traditional logic, but the tremors from his roast-show moment are sending influencer brand deals into an unprecedented tailspin. Brands are pulling back, slashing endorsement budgets, and in some cases, ghosting influencers completely.
Influencers facing the brunt
Influencers are set to earn handsomely from brand deals, but after Allahbadia's comment on India’s Got Latent, that stream appears to be rapidly dwindling, and not in the way they expected. Buffalo Soldiers' CEO, Sumon K Chakrabarti, believes the impact is evident: “Influencer marketing has nosedived by 50%.” Most of them are not even part of the conversation anymore.
Ranveer Allahbadia’s India’s Got Latent controversy
Even the lifestyle and travel macro influencer Shivaditya Barjatya appears to have lost some ground. In influencer economics, he is perceived to be sitting on a gold mine. Barjatya’s expected revenues were supposed to be pegged at Rs 2.5 lakh per post, but he now faces a projected 5-7% dip. He's noticed a shift in attitudes complaining, “Brands are far more careful now. The same figures that made them attractive to influecers are now making them cautious.”
The Samay Raina-hosted episode of India’s Got Latent brought with it its problems, as influencers found themselves embroiled in controversy as Raina lost a major sponsorship deal with an energy drink brand, proving that the influencer meltdown had already had its first casualty.
This is where brands have started to read the room and engage in influencer marketing with a complete block where they realize that not only is the situation dire for rebargaining, but the situation calls for reworking the whole strategy.
Picking up from where I left off: Allahbadia did not have a particularly great week last month, and he was already under fire for the incredibly poorly timed and inappropriate question he asked during a guest appearance. Every issue has its roots. This one made for social media's unexplained "would you rather" culture and suddenly became national backlash fodder.
A full-scale media meltdown was imminent, and as predicted, the backlash was front page news FIERS filed left and right while police complaints came in droves to flood the social media with burst pipes outrage over the so called “roast comedy” gracefully tiptoeing over vulgar, profane content.
Supreme Court’s verdict: Will provide another opportunity, but under strict limits
The supreme court has delivered its verdict. While Allahbadia has been allowed to continue The Ranveer Show, he must comply with the supreme court’s preliminary injunction which imposes restrictions on his creative expression and demands an “order of undertaking” to ensure that the show remains within the “bounds of decency and morality.” So, no more edgy, boundary-pushing, outrage-inducing content.
What remains to be seen is whether brands will still treat influencers with the same level of trust after this. Influencers will be forced to walk on eggshells for the foreseeable future, and brands will have tighter reins on how to interact.
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