Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Lead India: bad billboards, great TVC

I had written earlier about TOI's Lead India campaign, criticising them for the hoardings they had put up all over Mumbai. In hindsight I don't blame them, in this country right now, everything from cars to paints and chocolates to sanitary pads are being sold by cricketers or Bollywood stars, or occasionally, both. So why not an initiative such as Lead India. On the plus side, their TVC is a delight to watch. Here's the link.

Monsoon clouds over Kerala

Here are some pictures taken while driving through Kerala, just before the monsoons hit. I was there on an assignment and we were travelling from Calicut to Ezhimala. There was no time to stop, so all of these have been shot from the car, while on the move.









Oh so un-fair!

There is this strange obsession Indians have with fair skin. I should know, I spent most of my growing up years thinking that I was ugly, and feeling somehow inferior to cousins and friends who were fairer. Even now the feeling hasn’t completely left me, I still take compliments with a pinch of salt, but atleast it no longer has anything to do with the colour of my skin.
I don’t know where I picked it up from, for we had no such discrimination in the family. I guess it was, as it still is, the larger perception in society that had fed my insecurities. Sadly this continues to be the case, now more than ever before, and taken to new heights by the aggressive advertising by rival cosmetic companies.
Cosmetic products, like any other consumer products, need to constantly redefine themselves, with better packaging and catchier by lines, even if the basic message remains the same. The most widely selling face product in India are ‘fairness’ creams, products that promise to make you fairer over a period of time. So while this ‘get fair skin’ theme has remained a constant over the years, the advertising for such products has had to come up with new and innovative ideas to emphasise its importance. The latest in this series, currently on air, is the Pond’s White beauty ads (here are links to episode 1 and episode 2).
Now this is not a simple ad. It’s a series of ads, that apparently has a name, the ‘novella’, and a definite storyline. It is episodic, with one episode released every fortnight. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a promo for a film, given its cast, (popular Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Neha Dhupia) and production value (its very slick, shot like a Karan Johar film) and Pond’s was just riding along. It took me a while to realize it was a short film showing on TV, in small capsules, specifically to advertise a product by Pond’s. Talk about big budget advertising!
The product is a fairness cream that claims it can transform your skin to a ‘pinkish white’ (or a ‘pale white, you choose’.) I am stumped by this claim. Though I must admit I admire the audacity. Can you imagine pinkish white Indians?!
What makes me write this post however, is neither of those two sentiments. It is instead a sense of alarm. The ads are really well done, and the stars are current favourites. Even a skeptic like me can see how well it will be received by the general public. (I would not be surprised if this series is a big hit, and leads to a number of such ‘novellas’ in future.) The implications of such a success are, to my mind, frightening.
Such reckless and irresponsible advertising is nothing new. But irresponsible advertising that is also effective and successful is certainly something to guard against. Question is, how?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Walking around in fading light...

... on the roads of south Mumbai, rushing from an exhibition to a screening, I couldn't help but stop a few times...