Welcome to the world of advertisement! Enter on your own risk as the things here are totally different from what they appear.
Advertisers would do anything, play conveniently with consumer's weaknesses and emotions , to sell their products. As is truly said that; "Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need'!
The influence commercial advertisements have on psychology and choices of people , especially children is baffling! My boys' choice of toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc changes according to the latest and most popular ad of the week! They persuade me to buy Complan for them , attracted by its claims to increase height in double speed. And a few weeks later when Horlicks comes up with this hard-to-beat tagline of 'taller, stronger, sharper' , their love for Complan vanishes in thin air. Now they want the three in one package deal of Horlicks!
My kids simply love Maggi noodles. But then which kid doesn't! They demand the Maggi by quoting the tagline "health bhi, khushiya bhi". I agree with the second half of this slogan "khushiya bhi" (happiness), as I can witness the joy and excitement on my boys' faces as they slurp the noodles. But health?? seriously?? How do the advertisers expect mothers to believe that the few barely-visible-dehydrated-pieces of vegetables in Maggi has the goodness of greens and health packed in them! Duh!! But I do feed my kids Maggi noodles occasionally just to see their delighted faces. For their health, I feed them more nutritious things!
And then there are those embarrassing commercials that never fail to fetch curious questions from kids. Every time the Idea 3G latest ad of 'population control' is shown, my nine year old wants to know that what does a 3G connection have to do with babies? (any suggestions about how to explain it to a nine year old!) :-)
Surf excel has made a mother's job doubly difficult. Now children returning from school wear stains on their uniforms as medals and justify themselves by quoting Surf excel's slogan 'daag acche hai'! (Dirt is good).
But why blame only the children? Adults are also influenced everyday in their choices by catchy advertisements. Fairness creams like 'Fair and Lovely' thrive in Indian markets due to Indians' fixation for fair skin. If one fairness cream claims to give a fairer skin in 20 days, another one claims to perform the miracle in just 7 days! Phew! There are countless other products that claim to perform various kinds of unbelievable miracles, for example, defy age and make you ageless as Sleeping beauty, give you a skin as flawless and white as Snow white's , make you as slender as Cindrella , and make your hair as long and strong as Rapunzel's!!
Just imagine for a while that if all these products worked exactly as advertisements claim, what a world it would be and how our lives would be transformed! All the women in the world would turn into beauty queens with a figure to die for, flawless skin and long shiny hair. And all the men would be tall, dark..oops! correction- fair, and handsome! And rich,with money in various investment schemes! And they would always smell just -out -of -shower inspite of sweating in gruelling month of May! And all the kids would be 'taller,stronger and sharper'! And before any examination, instead of studying, all they would need would be just a bowl of Kellog's cornflakes, or even just an ordinary Mentos would do the trick! Remember the Mentos tagline ; "Dimag ki batti jalade"! And they need not worry about improving their handwriting as various kinds of pencils and pens would automatically take care of it. (I wonder what kind of pens do the doctors use?)
Many a times I have found myself buying some utterly useless product, or choosing one brand over the other just because of the clever advertising! I have tried to manage my dog phobia by gulping down Mountain Dew in the false hope of its promising slogan "Darr ke aage jeet hai" (There is victory after fear)! But to no avail, I am as chicken as ever!
Though most of the advertisements are exxageration at its heights, there are some honest ads as well, like Sprite's famous slogan "Sprite bujhaye only pyaas, baki sab bakwaas"! Now that's what we call an honest ad! :)
But serioulsly, whether honest or blatant lies, one has to agree that Indian ad films are most original, creative, interesting and fun to watch.So while you all read this post ,I have to run because my favourite ad of the month is on air!! :)
Advertisers would do anything, play conveniently with consumer's weaknesses and emotions , to sell their products. As is truly said that; "Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need'!
The influence commercial advertisements have on psychology and choices of people , especially children is baffling! My boys' choice of toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc changes according to the latest and most popular ad of the week! They persuade me to buy Complan for them , attracted by its claims to increase height in double speed. And a few weeks later when Horlicks comes up with this hard-to-beat tagline of 'taller, stronger, sharper' , their love for Complan vanishes in thin air. Now they want the three in one package deal of Horlicks!
Surf excel has made a mother's job doubly difficult. Now children returning from school wear stains on their uniforms as medals and justify themselves by quoting Surf excel's slogan 'daag acche hai'! (Dirt is good).
But why blame only the children? Adults are also influenced everyday in their choices by catchy advertisements. Fairness creams like 'Fair and Lovely' thrive in Indian markets due to Indians' fixation for fair skin. If one fairness cream claims to give a fairer skin in 20 days, another one claims to perform the miracle in just 7 days! Phew! There are countless other products that claim to perform various kinds of unbelievable miracles, for example, defy age and make you ageless as Sleeping beauty, give you a skin as flawless and white as Snow white's , make you as slender as Cindrella , and make your hair as long and strong as Rapunzel's!!
Just imagine for a while that if all these products worked exactly as advertisements claim, what a world it would be and how our lives would be transformed! All the women in the world would turn into beauty queens with a figure to die for, flawless skin and long shiny hair. And all the men would be tall, dark..oops! correction- fair, and handsome! And rich,with money in various investment schemes! And they would always smell just -out -of -shower inspite of sweating in gruelling month of May! And all the kids would be 'taller,stronger and sharper'! And before any examination, instead of studying, all they would need would be just a bowl of Kellog's cornflakes, or even just an ordinary Mentos would do the trick! Remember the Mentos tagline ; "Dimag ki batti jalade"! And they need not worry about improving their handwriting as various kinds of pencils and pens would automatically take care of it. (I wonder what kind of pens do the doctors use?)
Though most of the advertisements are exxageration at its heights, there are some honest ads as well, like Sprite's famous slogan "Sprite bujhaye only pyaas, baki sab bakwaas"! Now that's what we call an honest ad! :)
But serioulsly, whether honest or blatant lies, one has to agree that Indian ad films are most original, creative, interesting and fun to watch.So while you all read this post ,I have to run because my favourite ad of the month is on air!! :)
Tasneem that was so refreshingly entertaining and yet so amazingly true!! Throughly enjoyed the content, style and tone..You have seriously brought out the creative writer in you.Good stuff here!!
ReplyDeleteThanks hani for the encouragement. Am always looking forward to your feedback because i know what an amazingly creative writer you yourself are!
ReplyDeleteInteresting and thoughtful
ReplyDeleteThanks Alys :)
Deletevery well said. this is very much "kahani ghar ghar ki". all the commercials should be banned. some sort of a bill... or an act would do the trick...anna hazare would be the best person for the job.
ReplyDeleteThanks..Anna hazare..lolzz... :)
Deletea most fun read :) it was witty and the best part is, it all rang so true!! Lately my son has been begging,"Chalo India jaiye - popcorn chicken khawa!!" after the exciting KFC ads have been running lately!! Looking forward to reading more posts!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi tasneem! thanks for your feedback.
ReplyDeletewell, didn't know India has now an added attraction of popcorn chicken also :)That speaks volumes about influence of ads on kids. Keep visiting the blog! :)
Tasneem! Fantastic. The topic is evergreen--being a student of advertising as well as journalism, i should be wary of the tricks of the trade but I still get swept away by the appealing commercials.
ReplyDeleteThe influence on kids is stupefying. My daughter now understands that certain products appear on Indian Channels so those products and deals are only available in India. Thus, she begged her Dad to get those for her when he was returning from Ashara!
Great read!
Maryam
Thanks Maryam, your feedback is much valued.
ReplyDeletep.s I think i saw ur hubby in raudat, but wasn't sure at that time, but now i know it was him only. :)
That was one veracious article ..!! Phew!!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of advertisement.. have u ever pronounced it the other way round ?
Ad-were-tease-ment .. ADS WERE MEANT TO TEASE !!
It is a swooping way of juggling ur emotions n logic aka Dil Logic ! Digs deep inside the dark room of ur whims n fancies as lollypop offered to a one yr old! Unearthens the manifold of ur temptations .. n things which u simply can not possess ..
So guys .. beware .. sometimes watching an AD may prove injurious or dangerous in front of ur spouse !! :P SAME GOES FOR GIRLS !! ;)
Hey there,so true.n fun to read too
ReplyDeleteTasneem ben Ad has a very drastic impact on a person specially Kids....... on an Avg. U c 3frames/sec on TV which leads to attention deficit in a child.
ReplyDeleteMake sure whenever u r watching TV kindly mute whenever u have commercial break...... coz a person is only attracted to the catchy giggle of ads n he/she simply memories it, which in return occupies unnecessary cognitive space.
All in all kudos to the effort ..... bravo Tasneem ben
too good! (Inspired by Pizza Hut Ad) ;)