‘British Empire’ as IPL sponsor of Chennai Super Kings is new Twitter debate

Chennai Super Kings at IPL 2019. (Photo: IANS)


A fresh Twitter debate has been triggered over British Empire, a beer brand of a Chennai-based company which is one of the IPL sponsors of Chennai Super Kings.

The British Empire, which was at its height the largest empire in history, had the Indian sub-continent as one of its colonies. Thus any mention of British Empire might bring to one’s mind the atrocities committed during the Raj.

Taking note of the infamous history of the British Empire and calling it “insensitive”, author and economist Sanjeev Sanyal asked if a company in Israel will advertise itself as ‘Nazi Germany’.

“Interesting that a company called ‘British Empire’ is a sponsor for an IPL team. Realise that it is just a company name, but wonder if a company called ‘Nazi Germany’ would advertise itself in Israel, or King Leopold in central Africa. Insensitive to say the least,” he tweeted, while re-tweeting a tweet by the brand itself.

Many Twitter users agreed with Sanyal’s view.

 

 

British Empire is a brand of SNJ Distilleries. In February 2019, just before the start of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings signed a deal with British Empire Glasses and SNJ Distilleries Private Limited.

According to the deal, the CSK players led by MS Dhoni will be wearing SNJ 10000 logo on the leading arm. British Empire appears on the back of the helmet.

British Empire was launched by SNJ Distillers in April 2011 in Tamil Nadu.

The Statesman tried to reach SNJ for a comment. The story will be updated once the company responds.