The latest edition of the Cadbury Silk ads is out. Set in a library, it continues the visual code (if you can call it that) of sticky, gooey chocolate being eaten in a messy way (when was the last time you saw an adult with chocolate stains across his face, like an infant eating food?). This time around it is not just about adults indulging on their own, but a gent offers his saliva laden, half-bitten chocolate to someone else.
Now, I understand that creative teams are always dying to do something different, especially if it means breaking away from category cliches (think bathing & milk pouring shots in soap commercials, ingredients like wheat & butter coming together in a biscuit commercial and so on) especially in food advertising. Some actively avoid doing what is common in a category. But there is a basic truth about any category of advertising be it foods or personal care – the advertising must make you want to use the product. Better still, crave for it. Craving is what food ads aim to create – that’s the reason why so much care goes into product shots – the ad must look mouth-wateringly good.
Maybe it’s just me but the Cadbury Silk ads (even the old ones, especially the one where a guy goofily eats the brand sitting on the stairs) evoke the exact opposite of craving in me. I find them repulsive even. I feel they go against the basic tenets of food advertising (though some may disagree with me and find the visuals appealing). The team has persisted with this theme for quite a while now – so one assumes that it is working for the brand, in terms of sales, affinity or whatever the measure is. While I am a big fan of the advertising for Mondelez India’s other brands, I am not a fan of Cadbury Silk’s advertising.
You?
10 Comments
RT @bhatnaturally: Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads http://t.co/n8eGALpA5X
RT @bhatnaturally: Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads http://t.co/n8eGALpA5X
RT @bhatnaturally: Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads http://t.co/n8eGALpA5X
Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads: http://t.co/BHCS2W3peE nicely written by @bhatnaturally #advertising #brandworms @ETBrandEquity
RT @bhatnaturally: Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads http://t.co/n8eGALpA5X
As an advertising professional you can see the clichéd approach to convert the messiness (a disadvantage) into a fun-thing (advantage) and hopefully make more people accept it. Also taking this disadvantage head-on might have been a good thing so as to not surprise folks better
But perhaps they should have gone further. This gooey messy thing is no longer cute – we’d rather see Nigella do it (especially since Cadburys doesn’t use kids in their advertising anymore)
and boy didn’t they miss that sensuous angle? (sponsoring the launch of The Dirty Picture would have been apt – have you felt Silk lately?). And tie ups with flavoured Condoms, etc.
RT @bhatnaturally: Why I am not a fan of the Cadbury Silk ads http://t.co/ytBfvwlHbn #blogplug
On a slightly different note, my 5yr old niece, saw their other ad (the girl in the car) and asked her mom why she should not be messy while eating, when adults in TV can be messy while eating. Wonder if the creative guys even consider kids as their TG for such food items.
your blog should be called bhag naturally. stupid opinion. stupid guy. and you work in advertising? Have you even sold one measly product?
no wonder you moderate your comments. insecure. nothing else.