Over the last few days, couple of ads from a deodorant brand Layer’r Shot caused widespread outrage (and rightly so) in India. Both the ads are anchored on cheap word play around the brand name and lewd. In one ad, four men at a department store aisle look in the direction of a woman and ask, “Hum char, aur ye sirf ek? Toh Shot kaun lega?” (‘There’s four of us and just one of it? Who will take…
Advertising, by definition, is meant to grab people’s attention. If a campaign goes un-noticed, it’s just waste of money. In that context, what has come to be known as ‘shockvertising’ – the attempt to deliberately shock or even offend people into noticing (and discussing) an ad has come into vogue. It is certainly not a new phenomenon. A common example of such an approach is the ‘United Colors of Benetton’ campaign featuring images which were…
Advertising competes for our attention. We tend to ignore it as we have more important issues occupying our minds. Add to it the general clutter of media and we have to appreciate creative ads which get noticed and stay memorable. My weekly compilation of clutter breaking creative ads is a small tribute to such efforts. Here are a few creative ideas which caught my eye this past week: Michelob Ultra: McEnroe vs McEnroe Tennis fans of a…
A social media post caused a diplomatic incident recently after a severe social media backlash over a social media post from Hyundai’s dealer in Pakistan. A #BoycottHyundai hashtag also trended in India. As many Twitter users began tagging the official handle, the social media team at Hyundai India protected their tweets and apparently also blocked a few users to boot. The official statement released initially wasn’t much of a clarification and spoke how the company…
I wrote a long post about the basics of marketing communications and the recent controversies around festive ads in India – particularly those of FabIndia and Fem. Last year too, Diwali ads faced social media backlash. The media discussions on this issue continue. I came across a segment featuring adman Bharat Dabholkar in a news channel video discussing the recent ad controversies. I agree with him on a a few things while disagreeing on others.…
The fundamentals of marketing communications is believed to be the same, be it in the traditional media world or the ‘new’ digital world. Bill Bernbach, ad legend and founder of DDB said famously: ‘it is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own’. Such motivations are not going to change…
It is festive season now in India and mass media is full of ads from retail, jewellery and fashion brands. Some of the ads which featured protagonists in traditional Indian wear but without a bindi on the forehead faced criticism on Twitter (where else?) and some even tagged the brand handles. The question, ‘does art imitate life or life imitates art?’ is perhaps a difficult one to answer. In this context, advertising & marketing folks…
Residual imageries are powerful. Deep down in our minds there are visual and word associations towards events, festivals, countries, celebrities and brands. Even to a non-Bengali the mere mention of ‘Pujo’ is likely to evoke an imagery uniquely associated with the festival with no ambiguity. Similarly, select countries, monuments and strong brands evoke visual cues. Diwali (or Deepavali as it is called in the South) has such cues too. In the South it is associated…
Titan Industries, known for its watch and jewellery brands, released an ad which evoked a polarised reaction on social media. While one group praised it, another group raised objections and called for a boycott of the brand itself. In response, the company decided to take the ad off air. No, I was NOT referring to the recent ‘Ekatvam’ ad for Tanishq jewellery but to the ad for ‘Tamil Nadu Collection’ of watches which came under…