When a Hero becomes a Hashtag: Captain Smit Machchhar's incident
Sandipan Ghosh, CEO - Chocolates & Confectioneries, Lotus Chocolates at Reliance Consumer Products, discusses in a post the need for ‘moment-brand fit’ before brands turn heroic moments into marketing
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Published: Oct 5, 2026 9:25 AM | 2 min read
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- Sandipan Ghosh, CEO of Lotus Chocolates at Reliance Consumer Products, praised Captain Smit Machchhar for his bravery during a flydubai flight incident where he was stabbed but managed to help passengers restrain the attacker.
- Ghosh expressed concern over the rapid brand responses following the incident, questioning whether these gestures of support were genuine gratitude or attempts to gain attention.
- He highlighted previous instances where brands capitalized on unrelated events, such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Chandrayaan-3, which led to complaints and lack of lasting impact.
- Ghosh emphasized the importance of aligning brand actions with their core values and suggested that genuine support should be discreet rather than a public relations strategy.
In a LinkedIn post, Sandipan Ghosh, CEO – Chocolates & Confectioneries, Lotus Chocolates at Reliance Consumer Products, referred to the recent incident involving Captain Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed in the cockpit of a flydubai flight but managed to open the door, allowing passengers to restrain the attacker. While praising the captain’s actions, Ghosh questioned the brand activity that followed, including financial support announcements and social media creatives and hashtags.
The post below has been reproduced from Ghosh’s LinkedIn post:
Last week, Captain Smit Machchhar was stabbed in the cockpit of flydubai FZ1073. Badly injured, he still managed to open the cockpit door so passengers could restrain the attacker. 174 people walked off that plane because of him.
He deserves every honour coming his way: national recognition, state awards, and our lifelong gratitude.
My question isn't about him. It's about us, the brands.
Within 48 hours, the announcements started arriving: ₹1 crore here, free family travel there. Each one came with a well-designed creative and a hashtag.
Let me be clear. Generosity is never wrong. But as marketers, we should ask ourselves one honest question:
Is this gratitude, or is it borrowed attention?
We've seen this pattern before:
Tokyo 2020: The moment Neeraj Chopra won gold, dozens of brands with no link to him ran "congratulations" ads using his image. That led to complaints to ASCI and legal notices from his management. The applause ended up in a dispute.
Chandrayaan-3: Every brand, from mattresses to paints, posted a moon creative. Can anyone remember even three of them today?
What works: Anand Mahindra gifting SUVs to Olympians feels natural, because he has done it for years in his own voice. It is consistent behaviour, not a one-day campaign.
We spend years teaching teams about product-market fit. The same discipline applies to moment-brand fit:
Does this moment connect with what my brand stands for every day?
Would I do this if no camera were watching?
Will my customer remember it in six months, or only my social media team?
If the answer is no, a quiet cheque, without a press release, may be the most honourable thing a brand can do.
Heroes deserve our gratitude. They shouldn't become our content calendar.
Salute, Captain Machchhar
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