© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

Recently, Krispy Kreme came into the limelight for offering a free glazed donut to anyone in the US who could show a covid vaccination record card. Other companies have also started offering freebies for vaccinations. What’s going on? Why should a donut company care whether people get themselves vaccinated? After all, conventional wisdom tells us that it’s the duty of the government and not private companies to ensure public health.

Indeed, Krispy Kreme has faced criticism for its initiative, because it is offering an unhealthy snack in the interest of driving a public health measure. But what else can a donut company do, especially when it is simply offering a reward for good behavior? As every parent would vouch, rewards are an essential nudge towards desirable actions. In any case, offering something tangible in support of the vaccination effort does seem to be better than capitalizing on the covid situation through messaging in the form of unproductive lip service as this Horlicks ad purports to do. Just as this Dabur ad once did by (insensitively?) showcasing loss of hair caused by cancer.