addendum

Addendum is a fortnightly column that takes a sometimes hard, sometimes casual, sometimes irreverent, yet never malicious look at some of the new or recent advertisements and comments on them.

Bite into taste

There’s this lovely roadside café looking like something straight out of the Champs Elysees and you have the lovely Katrina Kaif sitting in a new avatar waiting for someone or something. She has this nerdy look brought on by a pair of heavy-rimmed spectacles. The waiter places a bottle of Tropicana Slice mango drink before her. This time around you don’t see her seductively parting her lips and waiting for a golden drop of mango juice to fall into her mouth. She grabs the bottle, sniffs deeply at the bottle that is inspired by the shape of a diced mango, and then bites deeply into the bottle. Yes, you heard right. She bites into the bottle and then decides that a good mango doesn’t need a nerdy look. She takes off her specs, unties her hair, gets back into the old Katrina look and proceeds to ascend to mango heaven. The shot where she bites into the bottle is a little startling until you allow the creative licence of Senthil and his award-winning creative team at JWT (they ran away with a cartful of Abby awards at GoaFest this year) sink in. So what’s the verdict? Well. From nerd to mango-vampire to happy-go-lucky-young-lady, Katrina is a winner all the way. This well-made though rather “different” TVC will leave you panting for a sip of Tropicana Slice. Just remember, though, biting into a plastic bottle is not strictly advisable.

Respect women

So you’ve seen me wax eloquent about Katrina and her seductive lips. Now there’s this TVC which begins with the same scene and music of the earlier Katrina “lips” Kaif sequence and as you are waiting to see the drop of mango juice fall between those fabled lips, you are jolted as the camera pulls back to reveal a caterpillar moustache creeping on the upper lip and some serious stubble on the chin … Katrinaaa??? You soon realise this is a take-off on the Tropicana Slice ad by Orchard Advertising which has chosen stand-up comic Vir Das as the protagonist to take on such heavies as Pepsico, Unilever (Lux), some motorbike advertiser, Godrej (deodorant) and an ice-cream advertiser for “objectifying” women in their advertising. Just when you think this is an advertisement on gender sensitivity for Laadli the NGO, you realise it is actually an advertisement for a deo called “He”. And in the eternal search for the classic differentiator, Orchard and He have decided to use respect for women. Not a bad idea in a category typified by Axe and the bimbettes who run after their hero (wonder why He didn’t take on Axe, a sitting duck in this genre). So the advertisement has Vir Das saying you don’t need to objectify women to sell a good product. And then you learn about He Respect, the deo for men who respect women. Boy! I never thought I’d see the day when respect for women would be a positioning statement and that too for a deo. Does it mean we have generally hit a new low in our treatment of women in advertising? Maybe not. But would this positioning work for He Deo? Well, obviously the assumption is that there would be plenty of men who would like this statement and quickly raise their arms to salute the new deo which shows their respect for women. May their ilk grow!

Mysore Sandal turns 100

Mysore Sandal Soap is more than just any old soap. It comes with great memories. Mine include that distinctive fragrance in the bathroom after my mother had a bath. And the joy of handling an iconic brand for a couple of years before I decided to hang up my boots. But while the soap has had as many positioning statements as it has had Managing Directors (each one would try and change the agency too) this is yet another example of what the Government shouldn’t be doing. When I think of brands such as Mysore Sandal and Air India in the hands of the private sector, my heart sings. But then one is happy that in spite of the Government and its sad ways of marketing and advertising, the brand has been around for a century! Birthday greetings to it and our best wishes to the team who is handling it now.

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in