I haven’t seen PK.  However, I know that the movie has been panned by some Hindus, including my friends and acquaintances, because it portrays Lord Shiva in a poor light and pokes fun at Hindu rituals.  Apparently, an FIR has been lodged against PK and the people associated with it – Rajkumar Hirani, Aamir Khan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Siddharth Roy Kapur – for being insensitive towards religious feelings.

I am sure that most Indians are aware of the above controversy; what they may not be aware of is the controversy surrounding another movie, a Hollywood one – The Interview – that has been produced by Sony.  The Interview deals with Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) who run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show “Skylark Tonight.” When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

Once the plot of the movie became known, hackers posted terror threats against theatres that planned to show the movie in the States.  Sony panicked and apparently told theatre owners to pull out the film if they wanted. Many did, and Sony removed the comedy from the release schedule. The studio followed that by deleting the film’s social media accounts.

For its action, Sony was roundly criticised all around the world including by members of the Hollywood community and even President Barack Obama.

It now seems that moviegoers will be able to see The Interview after all; Sony has announced that it will release the movie on a limited number of screens on Christmas Day.

The backlash on PK and The Interview is important for marketers. It seems that people are getting pretty sensitive about subjects and people close to them and are willing to take extreme steps (or at least threaten that) in case something offends them. Marketers, thus, will have to become a lot more careful. When developing a movie, a show, an ad campaign or a promotion, they will have to figure out if there is any content that is likely to offend. If so, they will have to figure out how much they are willing to stretch an idea before it runs the danger of being seen as offensive to a group of people. If the backlash is intense, it could lead to the cancellation of the offending piece of work and to monetary loss.

However, while marketers need to be sensitive, I do hope that they don’t get extra careful. Creativity always works at the border of edginess and if marketers become too careful, they are likely to come out with sanitised and boring work.

That would be a real tragedy.