SINGAPORE: By attempting to"glamorise" crime as a marketing tactic, businesses are displaying a lack of awareness about the dark historical context involved, branding experts said.criticised the Gotti Italiano
In 2018, the Embassy of Colombia in Singapore and the Central Narcotics Bureau took issue with a bar called Escobar, named after the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. But Associate Professor Lau Kong Cheen, who heads the marketing programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences argued against capturing attention through controversial means.Professor Sharon Ng, deputy dean for Nanyang Business School’s marketing division at the Nanyang Technological University , pointed out that brands who use “inappropriate” names may not be fully aware of the crimes caused by such individuals.
“Given this, all socially unacceptable values begin to be diluted and slowly become acceptable norms under the guise of entertainment. This is where criminals and infamous people are seen being glorified.” “Having the Gotti name or having an event with the word ‘mafia’ in it, for us would not mean that there’s going to be danger.