An appeal to Baba Ramdev - The Marketing 'GURU'

Dear Baba Ramdev,
 am huge fan of yours. YUGE in fact. You are undoubtedly one of the most influential Indians of

the 21^st Century. In a country where nothing is uniform, you got everyone around a yoga mat and made millions of Lazy asses move in Unison for a healthy living. No mean feat indeed.

You’ve also made Ayurveda Mainstream. Even the hyper image conscious youth of India now recognizes the power of the traditional Indian Wisdom.
Today, almost every household in the country, across social strata, is likely to have some Patajanli product in their home.  

But not everyone is gaining health. I can tell you from experience, Patanjali is raising collective blood pressures of many big corporations.

Whilst your success at creating a business empire is quite inspiring, your marketing strategy to sell Patanjali isn’t as much.  Although you profess to espouse highest standards of ethics in every sphere of life, your business tactics fail to live up to the propriety and fairness on many accounts.

Emotional Blackmailing
Patanjali’s approach to its advertisement is no different than the strategy of fear psychosis propagated by the same MNCs you ridicule. They created fear of Dark complexion, Bad breath, Body odor and you are building your empire on the fear of Outsiders. The only difference being that latter is perhaps more dangerous.
Why can’t Patanjali products be sold purely on the merit of the superior value offering? Finding an emotional sweet spot in a consumer’s life for your brand in not Impropriety. But resorting to emotionally blackmail those who you trust you blindly definitely is.

Peddler of Half Truth
The following excerpt, from your advertisements is a perfect example of being selective with facts, peddling half information to suit your argument.

 “The way East India Company enslaved and looted us, Multi-National Companies are still doing the same by selling Soap, Shampoo … at exorbitant price. Thousands of crores of profit thus generated is ploughed back to their own countries”

There is nothing wrong with making profit. Creating value for its stakeholders is the raison d'être for any business and only a profit making enterprise can do that sustainably.
 In a capitalist economy, consumers have a choice to reject a product if it doesn’t bring Value. It is the same capitalist structure that has enabled Patanjali’s phenomenal rise
 And whilst making a big deal of the profits repatriated into their Home countries, you fail to take notice of the Billions of dollars of contribution by the same MNCs in the form of Taxes, investments and Employment in India.  RBI Data for past many years bears enough testimony to this.

You also make blanket statements disparaging the competition without any facts for support. The claim of ‘Chemical Attack’ is not backed by any clinical study. For all we know, you could be right. But wouldn’t you do us all a huge service by proving it as well?

Copying and Mocking, at the same time
A look at the Patanjali’s retail shelves and one can find big holes in its Swadeshi Batch.  
Actually, you sell pretty much everything that reeks of westernization. Noodles, Oats, Muesli, Corn Flakes, Jams and the list is endless. These are as much a symbol of western influence - At least until they escape the attention of a right wing Historian - as the Poster of Julia Roberts that used to adorn the wall of my hostel room. In many ways, your success has been bankrolled on the inventiveness of the same MNC’s you run down so mercilessly.  I wonder why you didn’t launch Ready to eat healthy Indian Breakfast like Upma, Poha Idli etc. That would have been a real promotion of Indianness and Indian ingenuity.
May be cloning made better business sense than originality!

Swadeshi Talk, Videshi Walk
You jet set the world in the aircrafts with Engines manufactured in the US, Landing Gears from Germany, Seats Fabricated in China, and  Assembly in France, operated by an Indian company, partly owned by a sovereign fund from the middle-East.  Don’t you contribute to the profits of these MNCs with your Business class tickets?
In a hyper connected, globalized world, aspiring for an absolute self- sufficiency is not just impractical but also counter-productive.
And if you close the doors to the world. The world will shut the doors on you too
Could you take a pledge to get on-board a 100% Swadeshi Airline?
 And By the way, how about giving up on your Range Rovers for Mahindra XUV, a true
Blue Swadeshi SUV?

I’d like to conclude with a humble appeal that with every Patanjali product, people are investing their trust into you. Far bigger than a company, you are an institution that represents a value system;  
For them, your Saffron robe is an assurance of quality. And your words the biggest reason to believe.
Don’t take them for a ride. There are enough and many doing that already.

Your sincerely,