Mumbai: The brand value of Australian cricketers is expected to suffer dramatically in India following the acrimonious second test in Sydney, advertising experts say.
India's protests over poor umpiring during their 122-run defeat reached a flashpoint with the ban on spinner Harbhajan Singh for allegedly racially abusing all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
The charge was laid by umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson following a complaint from home team captain Ricky Ponting that Harbhajan had called Symonds a monkey, which saw the Indian public back home react with anger and disappointment.
India captain Anil Kumble accused the Australian team of being unsportsmanlike and several Australian sporting icons have said their cricket team had lost its "moral compass".
Ponting and fast bowler Brett Lee endorse leading consumer brands in India, apart from appearing in sponsored television shows, and are among other current Australian players who write syndicated newspaper columns in India.
Almost all the top Australian players have signed up for the Indian board-promoted multi-million dollar Twenty20 league that kicks off in April.
"The whole country is against them following the cricket incident," Habeeb Nizamudin, growth officer of media planning agency Lodestar Universal told Reuters on Wednesday.
Largest Audience
"This is definitely going to impact their brand value. However, whether this will be sustained in the Indian mindset over a long period of time I can't tell."
India, which has the fastest growing major economy after China, possesses the largest global cricket audience.
Their cricketers are feted as pop stars in a country of 1.1 billion where top-ranked Australia also have a strong fan base thanks to their brand of entertaining cricket.
But they have crossed the line this time, some say.
"Australian cricket has always had attitude. But now that has become arrogance. They have damaged their own reputation," Shailendra Singh, whose firm represents Australia batsman Michael Clarke's business interests in India, was quoted in Mumbai daily DNA on Tuesday.
"You don't want an arrogant team supporting your brand," added Singh, joint managing director of Percept Holdings. Some feel the Indian players will gain by way of advertising from this incident.
"As far as advertising is concerned it's bad news for Australia," Nandu Narasimhan, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi told the paper.
"But it could be hot news for Harbhajan. He has sort of typified what the new India is all about."
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