Addendum is a weekly 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.
Remember the waiter in the Center Fruit TVC some time ago? His tongue simply wrapped itself around the entire Udipi menu and got him a job, the film a lot of laughs and Center Fruit a lot of sales. Now Ogilvy is back again, this time inspired by (my take, not theirs) Modi’s trip to Japan, and they have Swami the protagonist trying to charm the lissome Japanese girls with his lack of the Japanese language and achieving the great impact that generally goes with the contact a flying palm (and even a flying foot) makes with an unsuspecting cheek. Not to be deterred, Swami enrolls in a language class run by this pretty Japanese girl and two Ninjas. The instruction is pretty simple. The learner is just exposed to a large illustration of Center Fruit and then you watch his tongue run. The high speed at which the tongue “laplaps” would do full justice to the Shinkanzen (bullet train) in full cry. And in between there are some guttural sounds that resemble something a Samurai would let out when he is in full cry. Anyway, between the Shinkanzen and the Samurai, the Japanese girl falls in love with our laplaping Swami and they all live happily ever after. I simply loved watching this TVC. Pure entertainment. Suspend belief and enjoy. Every little nuance is carefully designed to make you want to see the TVC again and again. You might even run out to buy a Center Fruit. Just watch your tongue, though! We don’t want it running away now, do we?
Get ready for the urban commute. Grime, traffic, rains and every possible obstacle could and possibly will pop up in your course. But don’t worry. That’s why Levi’s has come up with its new range that promises form and function will make light of any or all these obstacles. And FCB Ulka shows you how in its new TVC, which shows a young musician armed with his urban commute Levi’s and a sardonic smile weathering everything that Bengaluru (I think it looked like Bengaluru) can throw at him. Our hero slips his mobile into his concealed pocket, looks comfortable as he clears the Metro turnstiles with a leap that could have found him a place in the Asiad 100-metre hurdles race, unzips a nifty hoody when it rains and lets a super tell you that his jeans are water-resistant. Well, with odour-resistant, water-resistant, comfortable yet good-looking clothes, no wonder Levi’s says ‘you can live in them”. Live well, young friends. With form and function on your side.
Diwali starburst
Well, Juhi Chawla has moved on from her Kurkure days, but one must admit she really did a great job for the brand. There are very few people who can look funny and pretty at the same time and Juhi was one of them. Anyway, to fire up this Diwali Kurkure has come out blazing with star power. Parineeti Chopra in a “blink and you miss her” role, Kunal Kapoor (don’t blink and you still miss him role), Farida Jalal, as lovable as ever, and the unlikely hero Boman Irani. The setting is a family sitting around and the daughter Parineeti wonders aloud if her brother would come home this Diwali. The mother, Farida Jalal a trifle sad, says that with phones and other gadgets who comes home these days? And the door flies open to show you, Boman Irani, the son (seriously?) who has flown home courtesy the packet of Kurkure which has a number on it, and a Diwali scheme whereby it is giving away air tickets on the hour. If you get past the shock of seeing Boman as the son, you warm up to his usual competent performance. Yet, cribbers that we are, why couldn’t Boman have been moping at home and Parineeti Chopra been the sister who came home courtesy Kurkure? One would have got to see her for a little more time maybe?