How a bad ACTION can become worse for a BRAND at the ADVERTISING World.
When ROLLS-ROYCE was “Dust Cart” or a “Garbage Truck”.
The history of BRITISH luxury brand ROLLS-ROYCE cars is also linked to the state of RAJASTHAN in India. A famous enthusiast of the brand car models was a Maharaja of Alwar, who could buy up to three cars in the same day.
In the early 30’s of the last century, Jai Singh Prabhakar visited London. Wearing CASUAL attire around Bond Street and walking along the FAMOUS street of the Thames’s city when from a huge windows of a store he saw the showroom of a ROLLS ROYCE exhibition. He went inside to ask about the PRICE and features of that kind of Roll Royce vehicles. The vendors thought he was a POOR Indian, showing him the way out with contemptuous ATTITUDE.
Following the insults and humiliation, the Maharaja JAI SINGH returned to the hotel room and asked his secretary to call the Rolls Royce Offices, saying this time the MAHARAJA of ALWAR was in town and wanted to buy some cars. A few hours later, Mr. Singh arrived at the SHOWROOM Rolls-Royce exhibition again, but this time with his entourage and wearing his REAL COSTUME. The main entrance had a RED CARPET on the floor in front of the exhibition, to welcome the Maharaja and all his real court. All sellers bowed before him with respect. The Maharaja bought six cars, even paying FULL all delivery transport charges for sending VEHICLES to India.
After arriving in Rajasthan INDIA, the Maharaja ordered the municipal department to use all these six cars Rolls-Royce for CLEANING and transportation of waste from the city. The exclusive BRAND models were being used for garbage collection at ALWAR city. Soon the news spread out across the WORLD and Roll-Royce´s reputation was pilloried widespread, in those days every time that someone in Europe or America boasted about owning a Rolls-Royce, people laughed saying: “Which one? The same used in India to collect the city garbage?”. After the severe DAMAGE to its IMAGE, sales of Rolls-Royce fell in a quantitative manner and income of the company decreased significantly.
The owners of the British brand sent a TELEGRAM to the Maharaja offering his apologies and asking him to stop please use the Rolls-Royce to collect GARBAGE in Alwar. The president of Rolls Royce offered him six cars for FREE. When Maharaja JAI SINGH noted that the company Rolls-Royce had learned the LESSON, he stopped using the cars for municipal garbage collecting.
