(b) AD -

I want to write about two commercials that are on air currently, both of which are rather awful. Actually one is awful and the other is disgusting.

Thande ka tadka

Before I begin I would like to admit that I am one of those people who dislikes Aishwarya Rai and think that she looks like a rather inexpressive porcelain doll. Coming back to the ad. The ad has this guy sitting in what is I suppose a college canteen with his friends and says 'Umar hai sola figure Coca Cola' as he whistles at Ash who is passing by. Aishwary who is for some reason dressed like a village belle turns around and wants to know who whistled. Mr Crude-ass says rather belligerently that he did. What follows is some very bad rhyming of words like gaali and mawaali, rude and dude and wherein Aishwarya tries to make the point that the Crude-ass cannot whistle too well. In the end a penitent Crude-ass is looking woefully at the Coke bottle andAsh is saying 'Thane ka tadka'

What struck me about this ad is that its unlikely Coke would be able to run such a blatant eve-teasing promotion campaign in the west but in India they can do what they please. After all they can claim that they are merely drawing upon accepted social behaviour in India to promote their cold drink. They are not encouraging such behaviour they are merely mirroring reality. I would love to object to Coke but I will probably get the good old Indian retort 'tere baap ka kya jaata hai?' And since Coke has a bigger baap than me I am just shutting up.

I was also intrigued that Ash is still sixteen (I thought that she was sixteen when she did that nice Pepsi commercial) and by this new phrase 'thande ka tadka' which makes no sene whatsoever but then i suppose all of this is acceptable creative licence.

SBI Debit Card

In the case of the ad above we can indulge in the good old sport of MNC bashing and accuse Coke of being insensitive to India and Indians. However, what do you do when SBI does something worse. I was first told about this ad my friend the D-man. D-man was appalled that such an ad was on air but not having seen it I could not comprehend fully his angst. But having seen it I must say this is probably worse than the Fairl and Lovely air-hostess commercial.

This one shows a manual labourer lifting I suppose bags of cement and placing them one on top of the other. This is followed up by a banal commentary on changes in spending habits and how you dont have to carry lots of money anymore. The worker makes a re-entry looking very forlorn and you suddenly see a scroller below him which says 'Bholu, Ex-pickpocket'

I don't know which social insight forms the basis of this ad. That in India we think pick-pockets belong to a higher class than workers? Or is it that every manual labourer is former out-of work criminal? Or is it just that you can imply anythign about manual labourers and they can't protest?

That a leading bank like SBI should put its name on this is shameful. But they are not going to bother either if I tell them. I can imagine going to my local SBI and cribbing only to be told to take my business elsewhere with a curt ' Dimaag mat kha, Bank-chod'