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RBI asks The Statesman to change teaser slogan

Kohinoor Mandal

KOLKATA, Nov. 29

IN deference to the reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India with regard to a teaser advertisement campaign of the Kolkata-based daily The Statesman, the newspaper has to change a campaign slogan that it has been running for some time.

The advertising campaign, kicked off about two weeks back, had proclaimed ``2 rupee coins out of circulation from December 3'. Clearly, the aim of the campaign was to build up some curiosity on the part of the public before the proposed launch of the dai ly in a revamped garb from December 3.

All the three editions of the 126-year old daily, namely Kolkata, New Delhi and Siliguri, are scheduled to sport a new look from Monday from when the cover price too will be increased to Rs 2 from the existing Rs 1.50.

This apart, The Statesman has also entered into an arrangement with the financial daily Business Standard for sharing of news, under which the latter will supply four pages of business news to the former. The four pages will be printed on pink paper and will appear under the Business Standard masthead and will be distributed as a pullout along with The Statesman.

The advertisement campaign of the paper, however, has not been restricted to the print media. Hoardings and billboards have also been used.

Responding to the campaign, on November 27, the RBI issued a `press release' to all English and vernacular dailies here which said that there was no shortage of Rs 2 coins, neither was there a danger of such shortage emerging in future. Referring to the advertisements, the RBI said they were ``completely misleading and misrepresentative of the facts''.

The apex bank went on to say that it was the ``sole authority for the issue, and management, of the coin and currency system of the country''. The RBI also reiterated that ``2 rupee coins (would) continue to be in circulation as hitherto''.

The Statesman responded to the objections of the RBI by amending its slogan to: `Save your 2 rupee coins for December 3'.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Ravindra Kumar, Managing Editor of The Statesman, said his company never intended to hurt the public sentiment. ``We thought that any person with a sense of humour would like the advertisement. But we never realised that it w ould create a controversy'', he added.

According to him, the RBI wrote to the paper after issuing its press release. Mr Kumar said: ``Instead of going to the Press, if they had written to us in the first place we would have changed the slogan right away.''