The Election Commission’s order to remove the two leaves symbol and image of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on ‘Amma’ mineral water bottles has resulted in a 50 per cent drop in sales, officials said.
The drop was noticeable in Tiruchirapalli and Madurai they said and suggested that government use the label with “Tamil Nadu Government Logo” to boost sales.
Officials said people suspect the genuineness of the quality of water without the label, Tourists from other states who were buying these bottles earlier, are also suspicious about the quality as they do not contain the label, they said.
Initially, water bottles with the Amma logo and picture sold like hot cakes and sale of of mineral water by private companies dropped heavily, an official said.
However, now sale of mineral water by private companies had gone up, said Veeran Pillai, a stall owner in Madurai.
A salesman in Tiruchirappalli district said though sale of Amma mineral water was good, it was not enough even to maintain the cost of running the stall.
Transport department officials said despite enough stocks sale were not good due to removal of logos and picture. But he was confident it was only for a brief period and sales would pick up.
