Coke slaps legal notice on ad man Sharad haxar

Coke slaps legal notice on ad man Sharad haxar

coca cola logo CHENNAI: The Coca-Cola India Inc has slapped a legal notice on well-known photographer and Chennai-based ad man Sharad Haksar for ‘‘illegally’’ using the logo of the company in a creative hoarding put up on Nungambakkam High Road.

The controversial hoarding has a dry hand pump and lined-up empty pots in the backdrop of the Coca-Cola brand advertisement with a slogan ‘‘Drink Coca-Cola’’.

Essentially a pun, the hoarding seems to convey the famous misquote of the French Queen Marie Antoinette: ‘‘If you do not have bread, eat cake.’’

The company officials crying foul to this hoarding, which Haksar changes once a month with his creative ideas, had sent a legal notice to him. ‘‘Whenever we come across someone using our company logo without permission we serve them with a legal notice. It’s an automatic process and that has happened in the case of Haksar also,’’ Deepak Jolly, vice-president, Corporate Communications of Coca-Cola, told this website’s newspaper.

He said no company would allow illegal use of their official logo. ‘‘Haksar had used our logo in his creative work without our permission and our legal department had sent the notice to him. Since he also happens to be a photographer for us, we are trying to sort out the issue through discussions. We have been told that he never had any wrong intention in putting up the hoarding,’’ Jolly said.

Haksar, who runs the ‘1 point size’ advertisement agency in the city, told this website’s newspaper that he never had any intention of defaming the Cola major by putting up the hoarding.

‘‘I have used some of my creative photographs as a hoarding on Nungambakkam High Road and I change it once a month. The controversial hoarding was kept just to highlight the water crisis in the city and it has nothing to do with Coca-Cola,’’ he said.

Haksar claimed he had no idea about the ongoing protests against Coca-Cola in Kerala when he erected the hoarding. ‘‘I was totally unaware of the issue against Coca-Cola in Kerala. I never intended to say that the company drained ground water reserves,’’ he added.

Haksar said the issue of Coca-Cola sending him a legal notice for a pure artwork should be viewed in a larger perspective. ‘‘This is a classic example of how a major company can throw its weight on an individual. I am an Indian citizen and I have the freedom to take the photographs of things that I come across. There is no law stopping anyone from taking photographs of things you come across on the streets,’’ Haksar contended.

Apparently, the hoarding, in a creative way, had accused the Cola major of large-scale depletion of ground water by over exploitation and thus resulting in water scarcity, said Ramesh, a private company executive.

NEW DELHI: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, the Indian arm of US cola major, has threatended to take legal action against noted photographer Sharad Haksar for alleged infringement of its trade mark.

Haksar, a reputed photographer and winner of Cannes 2005 Silver Lion award, had placed a large billboard in Chennai showing Coca Cola's wall painting and along with it highlighted severe water shortages experienced by people living around Coca-Cola bottling plants in India.

Haksar claims his "work is solely an expression of creativity" but Coca-Cola has charged the lensman with infringement of its trade mark.

When contacted, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said, "We have issued Haksar a legal notice for infringement of Coca-Cola India trade mark."

"But at the same time, both sides are talking to each other to resolve the issue amicably. We talked to Haksar even today," the spokesperson added.

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