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 :)