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.
Deepika Padukone is a famous actress being stalked by the paparazzi somewhere in Europe. She has a rather unique way of hiding from them: She covers her face with a magazine that has her picture on it. Very ingenious. Fleeing them, she takes evasive action and ducks into an empty bakery where a handsome baker offers her a Chunkie and corrects her when she calls it a cookie. Evidently he means it is a lot more than a mere cookie. He then explains the difference through some rather attractive ‘food photography” with flour, butter and plump chocolate bits growing into a plump Chunkie instead of an emaciated cookie. And the baker adds that no one will understand that the real ingredient that sets this apart from everything else is the love that goes into it. And Deepika promises to let the world know about it, and there, now you know about it!
In our drive against gender bias, female foeticide is one of the most dastardly acts we need to contend with. And the Ministry of Women & Child Development has launched a campaign created by Grey Group on this very important issue. The campaign takes a very hard look at attitudes that are prevalent these days. The grandmother-to-be at the sonography clinic pleading with the doctor to disclose the gender of the baby and quickly adding that money is not an issue to get this information which is banned by law. A husband, discussing baby names, threatening that if it is female it might not see the light of day, and a third film where the family seems to act in concert to abort the baby once they learn it is a girl. All three films end on a very strident note that this is a crime on par with murder and the perpetrators would be dealt with very harshly. The visual of handcuffs on them or menacingly dangling towards them further reinforces the tough tone of the films. I like this different approach. It is an acknowledgement of fact, it reads out the riot act and then for ample measure shows a little clip of Prime Minister Modi making an emotional appeal to support the girl child. Here again the use of the Prime Minister is relevant and evocative, not just to show the mug shot of a leader. In fact, the message actually mirrors the approach of the Minister concerned. More power to her elbow!
Sharing the load
Let’s take the story of the girl child a little further. So we have saved the foetus and the child grows up unfettered and studies well and gets a good job and settles down to a married life and even earns as much as her husband. Good story? Not entirely uncommon in today’s world. So who, amongst the couple, if not the maid, gets to do the laundry? I think the answer is a no-brainer. And P&G along with its agency BBDO have come out with this very bold film where you see two adorable old biddies reminiscing about how Madhu Didi in the Sixties went out to work as a typist and earned six whole rupees a month. And one of them adds that her daughter-in-law (who is puttering around in the background on her computer) earns more than her son. The two ladies smile at one another and comment that this is the age when one should be born a girl, and on cue, the son bellows from upstairs demanding to know why his wife didn’t wash his green shirt. And the frame freezes with a shot of the shirt lying on the washing machine and a super that reads “Share the load”. The performances are top-rate, the film is very bold and relevant. Now, how many men load the machines in their houses, I really don’t know. But I can guess. How many will, after such a film, I wouldn’t hazard a guess. The male hide is rather thick, and will need consistent battering before age-old stereotypes are changed but I doff my hat to P&G and Josy and his gang at BBDO for firing the first shot.
Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in