Can Gandhi sell?

hello everyone....This is about an article i read in the ET supplementary paper Brand Equity.This is related to the new product launched by the Mont Blanc company...The Gandhi series of limited editon pens.

Sitting at the headquarters of Mont Blanc at Hamburg, Germany it must have seemed like a good idea. Like most other luxury companies, the manufacturer of expensive pens is keen to increase sales in India, seen as a vital market for the future.So how better to do that than to make one of Mont Blanc's limited edition pens in honour of the most famous and recognisable Indian of all - Mahatma Gadhi, Father of our nation..

Nor would they do it in half measures. They designed the pen in consultation with Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma's great-grandson who is a trained artist.The concept they came up with is elegant.The white gold it is crafted from evokes the purity of Gandhi's ideals.
The money earned through the sales of this pen is donated to the Mahatma Gandhi foundation run by Tushar Gandhi. The money would go to a porject with impeccable credentials - a home and school in Kolhapur for rescued child labourers.
But why is it still not working out? Commentators bemoaned the way it seemed, with it's over 11 lakh price tag, to endorse a culture of greed in the name of a man who would have scorned it.
It seems like Gandhiji is being used as a marketing machine which is ofcourse in way underestimating our nation.