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.
Let’s be fair
We’ve had this long and ongoing debate about the ethical quotient in fairness creams. Do they prey on the complexes that are present in certain sections of our society? So now you have this film conceptualised by India/2 for Banjara’s Skin +ve beauty cream that dares to take a bold stance and talk squarely about gorgeous skin, irrespective of its colour. The film shows the interaction between a basketball star who happens to be dark-skinned girl and her grandmother who calls her a “dark duckling”. The grandmother urges her to stay out of the sun and use a fairness cream so that she could be look “better” when a young man from the US comes to view her for a possible matrimonial alliance. The gutsy girl chucks the fairness cream into the trash can and wins the affections of the young man who thinks she is gorgeous anyway. Now we have a beauty cream with a message. If beauty is skin deep, it certainly has nothing to do with colour. Long overdue. Ramesh Vishwanathan of Banjara’s, take a bow!
The Kumbh Mela with its millions of footfalls has been a happy hunting ground for brands. One could recall Lifebuoy’s campaign at one of the earlier melas where the brand exhorted people to wash their hands with Lifebuoy soap before eating their meals. This time, it is the turn of Tata Salt to build on what was evidently an old practice of having a pinch of salt before starting a meal. It seems it was to signify good luck and good health. And so Tata Salt distributed thalis with its branding and tonnes of its iodised salt so that everyone could begin their meal with good luck and good health. I had, of course, seen thali meals served with a pinch of salt but the accent, I thought, was to enhance taste rather that health and luck. My cardiologist would be horrified if he had been to the Kumbh Mela. He has been constantly exhorting me to reduce my salt intake. And I know I speak for many hypertensive cases all over the country. He would insist that the extra salt would definitely not be good for health, and if you are one, you would need all the good luck you can get, in any case!
In short
How many times have you been irritated because someone just doesn’t get to the point? How many times have you wrung your hands mentally wishing you could cut to the quick? How many times have you blessed brevity? Well, Inshorts and Cheil have made this little gem of a film to introduce you to an app that gives you all the latest news in just 60 words. The film, made for digital media, follows a proven path of testing the hyperbole to make a point. So you have this bomb-disposal expert being instructed by a dialogue-loving boss, while the timer on the bomb is ticking away. A very serious episode is made light of, in a disarming (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun) way, to make you get the point. And the name of the service? Inshorts! So the next time you want to know what’s happening in the world around you, and don’t have the time or the inclination to read or listen to something that rambles on and on, just download this app, and you have the world not just at your fingertips, but “in short”.
Last words
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has been as vigilant as we want it to be. It has introduced a Whatsapp number that you can send in your complaints on. Go to its site, take down the number and use it. As you know eternal vigilance is the price for good advertising. And self- regulation is sublime.
Maruti Suzuki India has said it had nothing to do with the mileage scandal rocking its parent abroad. But this must be the worst nightmare come true for a company that ran a hugely successful campaign with the line “ Yeh kitna degi ?”
Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in