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.

Have you ever wondered why children trudge slowly to school, with their heavy bags weighing them down, and then run gleefully out of school making those same school bags seem light as a feather? It’s the system, you might say, and you would be correct. And Dell computers, along with Grey Worldwide, has come up with this creative that captures the essence of the “learning by rote” that our education system is all about. And so you have this little fellow learning about a volcano and magma and some other big word that I wouldn’t dare pronounce and he is repeating ad nauseam in every aspect of his little life. As he lies down, walks around and everywhere else. It definitely struck a distant chord in my fading memory. I could see myself in a caricature version of this boy, “mugging” (those were innocent days when the word had no violent connotation) words, and later whole pages, regurgitating it on exam day and forgetting all about it a minute later. And then you have the concerned mother introducing him to the joys of technology (a.k.a. Dell Inspiron computer) where he actually sees what these high-sounding words really mean. The screen has a volcano with nice supers indicating where the magma and the other unpronounceable stuff is. Yes, if technology can help children understand what they are learning they will grow up to be wiser that what I turned out. Dell’s thrust into tier 2-5 towns should pay off well.

Rap anthem

Do you like rap music? Have you heard of the rap legend Badshah? If you have, you are the audience Sonata, the watch range from Titan, is aiming for. It even has a rap anthem composed for you. And it shows the unapologetic youth ready to do whatever they want, but in style ( shaan se ). If you don’t like rap and haven’t heard of Badshah, what are you reading this for? Don’t worry, take a look at the range of watches anyway. You might still like them. They don’t look like what you think they would look like.

Footnote

Have you been noticing the quality of the music in TVCs these days? I feel bad to use the word “jingle”. These are seriously good songs. I’ll tell you two of my favourite “songs” playing out these days. And you tell me yours. Early birds who send in their choices will get an honourable mention.

OK, one of the reasons I love watching the World Cup Cricket telecast has been the Amazon song. I love the voice, lyrics and the tune. Second on my playlist is the HDFC Life song. I’m glad to note they actually have a full-length song and encourage viewers to download it. Now we need someone to make a compilation of these songs. It would be a collector’s item. It was done way back in 1997 for the Abby Awards. Those were jingles. These are songs.

Vox Pop: Old friend V Kalidas writes in to say he likes the Vodafone TVC (retirement day) and feels the natural acting of the protagonist and the overall production values of the film are excellent. However, he says it instantly reminded him of a Raymond’s TVC released many years ago where on his last day as a teacher at a boarding school students come and give him a gift which he accepts with grace. This was a part of the ongoing Complete Man series. He adds that the idea is certainly worthy of emulation. First Kali, you have an amazing memory. And now that you mention it, I remember it too. The core thought is the same, the implementation and adaptation is very different. And thank you for your kind words. Coming from an accomplished writer, we shall take a bow.

And the Vodafone TVC (or the review at least) seems to have garnered more attention. Milind S Kulkarni from Badlapur, Maharashtra, writes in to say whenever he watches the Vodafone TVC (retirement day) his eyes moisten. He loves the idea. Thanks for writing in, Milind.

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

Related Topics