The world of Advertisements :)

Humor has a universal language. It doesn’t need degrees in obscure languages, hardly ever in Clinical Psychology and it is one of the few devices used to make people smile and think at the same time. Great messages have been passed in the guise of humor, great authors and playwrights have used it over the centuries. If there are great tragedies there are also great comedies. So is it surprising that advertising has used this medium to sell a wide spectrum of products?!

The effect of these ads is felt by all of us in our daily lives. My neighbor two year old kid recently said ‘Vaango’, She was a proud mama for a minute, thinking that perhaps the kid is trying to learn a new language, till She realized that kid was only repeating the new Bingo ad. There went her hopes for a genius baby. :(



Humor has always got our attention. It could be controversial, subtle, blatant or slapstick. However it is used, humor sticks. Ad makers often take the commonplace and make them more exotic, twisted or just different enough to create an impact.
To be effective, humor has to be used innovatively, keeping in mind the target audience and what message the ad needs to convey. For the marriage-obsessed Indian, the humor in the ‘JeevanSaathi.Com’ ad, where the father is trying to find a bridegroom for his daughter in practically every man, does not fail to get the required attention. :D

Some ads like the one “Bounvita” nahi didi iske bournvita ke liye…!!! How could a person save 20 bucks for bournvita when ½ litre milk costs you 11 /-? They actually divert from the actual message. :#

Another one is Monster India, As far as I know they offer jobs usually in IT sector or other mechanical, financial jobs? Do they really come out with vacancies in Indian Criket team? Or vacancy in a Barber shop? Then how could did they put in those characters in the ad? :@


Some ad makers do find a point where the twain do meet, as in a recent ad for Camlin Permanent markers, where, in a rural Rajasthani village the husband passes away and the ‘Rudalis ’or the professional mourners come to the hut and start breaking the recent widow’s bangles and mangalsutra but cannot remove her bindi as her husband had used Camlin permanent marker, as a result of which he gets a second life! There was no conversation just the tag line “Camlin permanent markers – really permanent.” The message got through perfectly. :~
Our most scared animal has finally left her mark in the Indian ad scene, either being wooed by the ‘Fully Vaccinated African Black Bull’ or as the winner of a beauty contest, Ms. Palampur, with the Big B himself promising that next year she will be in films. The products of these two ads were Orbit and Cadburys chocolate. Seen any cows chew on these lately? :v
Humor being humor can be packaged appropriately to sell any product - however controversial or embarrassing. Which is good as it is a makes an effective weapon to be used to get social messages across. The series of ads using humor to spread AIDS awareness throughout India is effective without being offensive. :)
One of our neighbors actually were complaining of the recent Condom ad which has a punch line- Mard bano khul ke bolo, as kids at any place start shouting Condom which is more of an embarrassing situation to them.!!! :$
How could I end this without mentioning the ‘Utterly, butterly’ that stared 40 years ago! Amul ads are iconic, in that they have not changed in all this time. They are as contemporary today as they were four decades ago when they created a sensation in 1967. I would try to second guess what the weekly ad copy would be about. Remember “Aati kya makhan dala? Amul on everyone’s lips’. The ads were funny, simple and on occasion controversial but always they did their job – they got our attention!! :O
The Ad-Mad world offer many things to keep us "INTACT".

Keep Faith
Chakoli :)










29 comments:

Amit said...

good list there..
and Indian Advertisements have matured so much over the years..(please ignore Washing powder Nirma.. the jingle for which remains the same)
This year Majority of the winners at Cannes Lions 2008 were Indian advertisements.

Chakoli said...

@Amit:-))

Yup...Nirma girl... ohh babujee!!!!!

Is it...I never knew that...that was good:-))

Actually we have mass supposrting advetising... that also one good reason of it being coming out so brilantly:-))

Phoenix said...

I've always been the biggest fan f Amul's ads. the best...

Solitaire said...

I love indian ads. Miss them.

Since you brought clinical psychology up, there is a post today that you might like. :)

Anonymous said...

Ooh..nice observation. I loved the Amul ads. They come up with really good ones all the time. I happened to catch the Camlin ad on youtube....that is really good!

Vrijilesh Rai said...

Oh love the adverts. And how can u forget fevicol? They have THE BEST ads on Indian TV! Amul ones are great too!

And the Mentos ones.. dimaag ki batti jalade.. awesome!

Anonymous said...

HEy chakoli,
Very nice presentation of ideas, the way different themes were taken and the appropriate comments n finally te synchronization of all thoughts aptly.

Kudos to ur writing skills.:)
mahek

Chakoli said...

@phonix


Yup...they are just grt:-))

Chakoli said...

@Solitaire:-))

Ohh... you could watch them on youtube I guess:-))

Chakoli said...

@Homy:-))

yup its damn good;-))

Chakoli said...

@Vrij:-))

yup Fevicol is the mastermind:-))

Chakoli said...

@mahek

thanks for such a lovely comments dear:-))

RADhika said...

fantastic post! you won't believe, but day before yesterday itself we'd had the same discussion with my students...
there are many such things which indian ad industry has.. for example, ever seen an ad o a male product without a female being in that? and then a male in a female-product ad??!!

was a very interesting read!
:)

Unknown said...

HI Chakoli
a good collection of ads there. I personally love studying ads as the recent ads, apart from being humorous also have less of celebrities and more of concept selling. I love this trend and its a very refreshing change from seeing Amitabh Bachcan advertising every second product a couple of years back.
I am a big fan of mobile service providers' ad. Be it the vodafone ad, Airtel ads or the very recent Virgin Mobile ads. None of them have used any celebrity and yet sold a concept so effectively. Love that. Happy dent ad which won many awards at Cannes is an awesome ad. The other day i was watching the making of that ad, and it was grand!
Amul is a classic! dont even get me started on the old advertisements we had on TV. eg. "Lalitha Ji" - Surf
"Tandurusti ki raksha karta hai lifebuoy"
"Doodh doodh doodh doodh, wonderful doodh, piyo glassful doodh".
etc etc. i have a collection of those ads:d
take care
ciao

Anonymous said...

thats a great research girl :)

Anonymous said...

:D did not read the post :P *honestly* .just saying HI

Jigyasa said...

A wonderful read Chaks!!!! I like the way you have collected the thoughts......Indian Ads have been doing good and these days they are becoming even better....

Have you chkd the latest......Sahara Life Insurance 'Gabbar' ad. Awesome piece n Humor.......hehe watch it!!

Chakoli said...

@Radhika:-))

Advertising rules our mind:-))

Thanks dear:-)

Chakoli said...

@td23:-))

yup yup..airtel...vodafone..hutch....all were good and even IDEA came out with good ideas:-)))

Chakoli said...

@Ashu:-))
Thanks dear:-)

Chakoli said...

@Geet:-))


Thas okie sweetie:-))

Chakoli said...

@Jiggysa:-))

yup yup..
tahts also one of the wonderful thing:-))

Anonymous said...

yaar naya to filhaal kuch din rukega..i am off on a holiday with friends. :D

Aarti said...

Nice list of ads.. Amul is my alltime fav... :)


remember the "Doodh doodh doodh doodh, wonderful doodh, piyo glassful doodh" ad..used to love it and sing along~~

nice looking with new template.. me also scrounging for one... but see the same old~~ :(

Anonymous said...

ohh i loved the Orbit one... in which so many guys act as lamps.... hehhee! nice one...!

Sprite.. hehehe!

i guess the ads with celebs is most boring of em all :S

i loved the camlin ad...but i dnt knw... i have not seen it on TV... it is a master-piece :D

and utterly butterly... umm...tasty ;)
!!

did u forget
washing powder Nirma
washing powder Nirma
doodh ki safedi nirma se aaye
rangeen kapda bhi khil khil jaaye
sabki pasand nirma..



hehehe! i dnt knw... it till cmes on TV :))

Anonymous said...

and yah... fevicol... :D

Ankur said...

agree totally to amit!!
sometimes we also have to be careful what our children are watching and wat they arent!!!

and i second vrij too..

so many ads to count!!!!

Cheers!!!

Anonymous said...

Nice post!! the ads u mentioned are the good ones but there exists the bad ones too. Check out my post
http://opinionsandexpressions.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/lost-love-and-fair-skin/

Amit said...

Good morning . Mitr.. my friend .

:-)

Amit...

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