Over 50 crores of Indian households use Patanjali products. Patanjali is a brand that was established by Baba Ramdev, an Indian yoga guru and business tycoon Acharya Balkrishna in 2006. The brand has captured almost every part of an Indian household including medicines, detergents, spices, ghee and even skin care. The brand aimed at curing illness through yoga won the trust of millions of Indians at the very initial level. Also, due to the best marketing strategies and fixation on the low price of the products in comparison to other competitive brands, the Patanjali products became popular in a short period. The products were well promoted and Baba Ramdev left no stone unturned in the brand promotion. The Patanjali advertisements were seen on every news channel.
However, the advertisements have led the brand into big trouble.
Patanjali has landed in which big trouble?
The Supreme Court has landed heavenly on Patanjali for its misleading advertisements. This is coming after the Indian Medical Association has claimed that several of their ads are misleading people. The Supreme Court of India has banned Patanjali from advertising, any product related to disease or other medical conditions. The top court has also issued a contempt notice against the director Acharya Balkrishna for not obeying the court orders. The court has also held up the Union Health Ministry for not taking any action against the misleading and false advertisements by Patanjali Ayurveda. The court has also said that the entire country has been taken up for the ride but the government is sitting with its eyes closed. The Supreme Court has now asked the government to monitor the situation precisely and take the required action.
What did Patanjali claim?
Patanjali dubiously claimed a 100 % cure for cancer and HIV. It also even launched a Coronil kit as a cure for COVID-19. The brand is not only just promising the cure of the disease but claiming the eradication of the illness. According to the court, the brand is degrading the image of allopathy and has even violated the undertaking given by the government in November last year.
On January 15, the court received an anonymous letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India and Justice Amanullah regarding the continued publishing of false and misleading advertisements. In the next hearing on February 27, the court noted that Patanjali continued to publish advertisements with claims that they could provide “permanent relief” for diseases and that their products were superior to conventional medicines.
How does Patanjali play with people’s minds?
- Patanjali provides free consultation at the nearest Patanjali Chikitsalaya.
- Doctors listen to people’s problems and recommend ayurvedic medicines.
- All ayurvedic medicines are exclusively available at Patanjali Chikitsalaya which gives no option other than to buy the medicines.
- To gain the maximum benefits, the patients are told to include yoga and fitness in their schedules.
- For yoga and fitness, the patients are referred to ‘Arogya Kendra’. Yoga being a powerful asset starts improving the patient’s health.
- At the final step, the doctors recommend the patients to change their overall lifestyle by shifting to Ayurveda and people start buying more Ayurveda products ultimately from Patanjali stores which are readily and easily available in every area.
- Ayurveda along with yoga is undoubtedly a very healthy cure that eventually helps in improving people’s health but creating a false notion in people’s minds about the brand is an unfair technique.
People need to understand the fact that Patanjali sells ‘ayurvedic based’ products rather than selling solely ayurvedic products.
Why does Patanjali stand out to be the best brand for a middle-class family?
Pricing: 80% of the products are manufactured in their own Haridwar’s Patanjali plant. Also, the raw materials used are directly bought from the farmers. Therefore their production cost is far less than any FMCG company which helps in providing pocket-friendly prices to the customers.
Availability: Most of the products are readily available in 15000 Patanjali stores.
Graded products and Advertisements: Patanjali makes sure that it has products ranging from low segment such as oil, and toothpaste to premium grading products such as refined oil, ghee, oats etc. A middle-class person never feels left out while buying products from Patanjali store.
What should a customer do?
As a customer, you should know what you are buying. One should never just believe what an advertisement says rather there is always a need to study the product before consuming it.
