Rabindranath Tagore: The Influencer Who Didn't Charge

Today is the birth anniversary of India’s most loved bard, Rabindranath Tagore. He turned 160th this year. Do you see him staring at your holding a soap in his hand with a look of ‘an afternoon in May with west sky turning black with rain-filled clouds?’

Imagine a poet and philosopher Tagore endorsing Bournvita or a confectionary or a harmonium or an antiseptic cream. You may be thinking this guy is high. Surprisingly, Tagore might have featured in more than a hundred advertisements. From ghee to skin creams to sweets to harmoniums, Tagore endorsed a wide range of products. Advertisers used his celebrity the way they use that of film actors and cricketers now.

Tagore himself has been a brand that Bengal built on for more than a hundred years. However, having lived at a time when neither cricket nor films made much of a sense, Rabindranath jumped on the ‘brand wagon’ without any pay cheque.

Why Brands needed Tagore?

Rabindranath Tagore was a voice that people in intellectually charged up Bengal held in high esteem. Besides the brands, which were coming up understood that the products required a voice to sustain in the market.

Take a look at the 1920s market in Calcutta after the World War- I has ended, there was poverty largely looming around and on the other hand there was tremendous inflow of foreign-manufactured goods. This made the business owners realize to reach the elite class, you need a voice that would reverberate across the markets.

Why Tagore promoted the brands?

Rabindranath Tagore hold the theme of nationalism close to his hearts. Unlike jingoism, Tagore’s outlook of nationalism had a balmy globalization in it. His idea of the nation was more of staying grounded and touching the sky. And that is what he wanted the brands to preach. As a glocal (global + local) thought leader, Rabindranath Tagore wanted Bengal-bred brands to go big. One way to do it was to reach through intellectuals. When Tagore would testify a brand, elite intellectuals won’t mind buying because the bard wasn’t just a litterateur but hailed from a family of Zamindar. The class character was quite prominent.

Tagore’s Nationalism Catch line

The whole intention of Tagore to promote the brands was to talk about nationalism. The nationalist agenda can be traced in advertisement for Radium Cream or Sri Ghrita (ghee). Tagore says about the ghee, “With the decline in the standard of ghee in Bengal, the decline in the condition of livers has become inevitable. I wish that Sri Ghrita drives away this malady and helps Bengalis lead a better life.” About Radium Cream, he said, “Those who use beauty products like snow and cream or eau de cologne, on using the products manufactured by the Radium factory will find no difference between them and foreign products” and encouraging this “swadeshi enterprise” was a “duty”.

On Godrej soap, Tagore wrote, “"I know of no foreign soaps better than Godrej's and I will make a point of using it."

The one exception

Tagore did make an exception only once. While all brands he talked about were indigenous, it was Cadbury’s BournVita that the poet endorsed even though it was British. He wrote, “I have been taking Bournvita for some time and definitely benefitted.”

If Tagore was alive today, he would have definitely given Shah Rukh Khan and Virat Kohli a run for money.