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.

On Independence Day I saw the films made to commemorate this remarkable day that allowed us to be born free people. And I thank Manish Bhatt of Scarecrow for sending me links not just to that lovely and timeless Mile Sur Mera Tumhara , but also to his film Respect The National Anthem . Sung by Shubha Mudgal, with a voice-over by Amitabh Bachchan, it was very moving.

Swadeshi vs Videshi

It is definitely a sign of our times. I clearly remember the craze for phoren goods that existed before the liberalisation of the Indian economy. Smuggled soaps, perfumes and other similar products commanded a hefty premium on the streets of Mumbai’s DN Road, or Chennai’s Burma Bazaar. Then it was the turn of the large MNCs which have been here forever to scale up their production and bring in a slew of products, many with the westernised marketing angle. Backed by their huge, penetrating distribution network the FMCG majors who were predominantly MNCs made hay while the sun shone. Now, on August 15, I saw a commercial from Patanjali where the focus was squarely on the Swadeshi movement (which I’m sure very few people remember) where nationalists burnt products that were imported from England. The scripts went on to show a map of India as it was and even directly mention the East India Company, pointing out that MNCs took their profits made in India, back to their mother countries.

At that stage you had Baba Ramdev coming on the screen saying that profits of Patanjali went to charity. A quick shot of its product range, and the TVC ended. Actually, I’m very tickled at what I began with. A sign of our times! When an Indian company flies the flag and boldly positions itself as Indian versus the others, to me it reflects a growing and welcome change from the craze for phoren goods we had some years ago. A new sense of confidence in what is Indian, a new sense of pride in being and buying Indian. And someone at Patanjali has sensed this mood and is pushing the “be Indian, buy Indian” card very hard. I’m not subscribing to this approach, just describing it. And if the good Baba would only take a less bristly attitude towards ASCI, it would help. After all, intra-industry complaints have been the norm at ASCI. And the self-regulatory body has routinely pulled up routinely-erring MNCs.

Vote banks

It’s a well-known fact that in Mumbai, the maximum city, people who pay all the taxes are the least listened to by the elected representatives. This is because this affluent community has traditionally been adept at cribbing over cocktails and then scooting off to Alibaug, Lonavala or some such place to enjoy the holiday declared on polling day. So they are not a vote bank. And so they have no voice in the running of the city.

In 2014, the International Advertising Association (IAA) along with Group M did a campaign called Ungli Uthao aimed at dispelling voter apathy amongst the youth in Mumbai before the general elections. Now, on Independence Day, an NGO called Free A Billion has commissioned Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi to create a digital offering that is aimed at something similar. It hopes to create a vote bank of concerned citizens.

The film, The Boy Who Will Not Stand For The National Anthem, narrates the true story of young Prakash who rides out to pick up a college admission form and loses his life to a pothole in one of Mumbai’s suburbs. The film shows his parents holding his picture while the story pans out in the form of sub-titles. It ends by urging citizens to take a pledge at what they call a Swantantra Bank.

I clicked to pledge and read the well laid out matter that basically explains that citizens can make a huge difference to how the city is run if they came out and voted. The film itself is simple without being simplistic. It’s a great example of the message taking precedence over the medium. I’m sure a tight budget was also a reason for this. I hope this is pushed again closer to the municipal elections in Mumbai. Public memory is proverbially short.

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