How is Amitabh Bachhan’s desire to be born yet again on the banks of river ganga got to do with Uttar Pradesh being touted as “lagan nayi”. It is actually a misnomer. The right word would be “Lagan NAHIN” going by the way vote bank politics operate in a state, which unfortunately is instrumental in determining politics at the national level.
Another advertisement which proudly proclaims, “Kayam Rahe Mulayam” talks of VAT as being economic evil to the millions of ‘kirana waalas’. This is despite the fact that Election commission clearly states that advertisements of political nature should be banned. However in 2004 by the directive of supreme court, such political advertisements are allowed under monitoring of election commission. Still, no suitable code or monitoring mechanism exists in place to put check on false projections by political parties.
Talking about advertising, and looking at the number of awards garnered by our ever so creative desis in France and elsewhere every year, one really wonders about the creativity (or rather the lack of it?) when suggestive ads of men’s brief’s are flashed on news channel (the instances of “Nikaliya na…Kapde” and “Oh my god…FIFI”).
The ad spend in India is approx about 127 billion INR. Advertising is century old industry in India generating revenues for many celebrities. It is actually their second occupation, a back up to fall upon. Strangely enough the backup is as long as the main career is going great guns. The 7 up ad of “main dhoni ban gaya” was pulled out immediately after the team came back. It’s just an instance. Pepsi suffered losses worth millions of rupees (Rs 350 crore Blue Billion campaign!!); the new product launch is again based on the same theme, albeit using a different concept.
Commercial advertising has existed for many years. Advertisement to use product/service selling is commonplace, but individuals’ hard selling themselves is a concept, which is slowly gaining ground in India. So common people, wannabes, item girls, policemen, etc, etc, in order to have a share of that fleeting fame, are ready to do anything, anything from slicing their wrists, making up stories, policeman getting dressed as transvestites and calling himself Radha, and not to mention those tear jerker reality shows, where hosts invariably ask stupid questions (ab aapko kaisa lag raha hai, if the person is crying or visibly upset) to the person who has been ousted. People are doing anything and everything to get noticed. The age of advertising is finally here.
So, Whats your claim to 5 minute fame?
Posts
4 comments:
Not a single human emotion is left unmonetized by the media and the marketers. The marketer's job is not to worry about the society's rights and wrongs. That's the job of socialists and they would hate to be jobless. So the marketer cashes in on what she can and enriches celebrities and media in the process. If you find something wrong with advertising, chances are that the wrong actually lies in the minds of the target audience. Crappy/Unethical ads exist because there is an audience for it.
@samba: my post was a general observation (the main point was how individuals are selling themselves).. and yes there will always be audience for everything.....
I used to like watching news earlier. Now I abhor any news channel which airs! by the way, there is this program called ACP Arjun on India TV which comes sometime in the night.. 11 pm or like that.. one of the most entertaining. move news out of a news channel and it wud be fun..
i saw ur reply on my blog.. did u see "bazm" ever? i still remember the tune.
Thanks for a gud write up abt marketing and ad world.. However i believe the marketers are embarking the wrong tree.. i don’t quite find lot many efforts being put to decode and understand the consumer behavior, which acts as the launch platform to any marketing stroke and allied ad flicks.
Post a Comment