Other companies such as Coca-Cola, Mahindra and JSW say they no longer work with Suhel Seth, who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
New Delhi: A day after Tata Sons decided not to renew its contract with celebrity branding consultant Suhel Seth, it has come to light that another big corporation, the Adani Group, too had decided to end its association with him.
Seth’s one-year contract with the Adani Group ended in September 2018 and the multinational conglomerate decided not to renew it.
In a tweet, the official Twitter channel of the Adani Group wrote: “Mr Suhel Seth was consulted for a short-term project which expired in September 2018. He is no longer associated with the Adani Group.”
The group told ThePrint that the decision to not renew Seth’s contract pre-dated the #MeToo movement and was the result of a larger shift in strategy — the organisation was focusing on reassessing their in-house team to carry out the same role.
Seth was also approached by the Adani Group in March 2018 to undergo an image makeover, after their coal mining and transportation projects in Australia received criticism for damaging the Great Barrier Reef.
On Monday, Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, announced it would not renew its contract with Counselage (Seth’s firm), which is to end on 30 November.
Seth has been mired in India’s MeToo movement with several women, including a minor, accusing him of sexual misconduct .
Corporates cut ties
Coca-Cola India also told The Economic Times that it was no longer associated with Seth in a professional capacity. The article was published the same day as model Diandra Soares put up a Facebook post accusing Seth of “shoving his tongue in my mouth”.
“Coca-Cola has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and to answer your query specifically, Mr Seth is neither an employee nor a member of the India Advisory Board of the company,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.
Prior to this, Seth’s association with Coca-Cola was well-known, and he was also the PR front-man for the organisation when it battled charges of pesticide contamination in Coke beverages in 2006.
Also read: Mired in #MeToo, Suhel Seth loses contract with Tata Sons
Seth was also hired as a brand consultant by Dassault Aviation in July 2011, just months before the UPA government announced that it will be procuring 126 Rafale fighter jets from the French aircraft manufacturer.
Seth was paid Rs 12 lakh monthly for his consultancy services spanning four years, making that an annual retainer fee of Rs 1.4 crore, and a total payment of 5.76 crore, the Indian Express reported Tuesday.
However, Seth told the media house that he had “zero role in the Rafale deal”.
“I was more focused on the consumer brands, the sale of Falcon jets, Dassault’s systems company and acting as an interface with the mother company. I was not dealing with what they are selling. And everything I earned from Dassault was paid to me by cheque and declared to tax,’’ Seth said.
Spokespersons for the Mahindra Group and JSW Group also said that neither organisation was working with Seth on any project at the moment.
“There is no such association with him for many years now,” a spokesperson for JSW Group led by Sajjan Jindal told The Economic Times. Seth worked with JSW as a consultant for a year between 2015 and 2016.
PR guru silent
Ever since the wave of #MeToo allegations surfaced against the marketing guru, Seth, known for his public appearances, has suddenly disappeared.
Seth, who has 4.85 million followers on Twitter, has not tweeted since 10 October, the date that the first #MeToo account came to light.
In a tweet on that day, Natashja Rathore accused him of putting his hand up her kurta and forcibly trying to kiss her when she was in his Gurugram apartment a few years ago.
Five other women, including writer Ira Trivedi, and a woman named Ishita Yadav followed suit by coming forward with their own experiences.
Seth’s Facebook page, which has over 170k likes, is also silent, and even the website of his branding consultancy company, Counselage, is “currently undergoing scheduled upgrades”.
Also read: Suhel Seth: The man who ‘collected beautiful people’ and almost got away with everything
Gives an insight into the profile or these people. Helping Adani get a better image because they are accused of harming the great barrier reef through their projects. This is just so cringe worthy.