Advertisements. The good, the bad and the ugly.
In the first advertisement, two teenagers are checking their weight; one of them is fat. But the weight of the fat guy turns out to be much less; because he is showing off his shoes which are so light that they are supposed to reduce your weight. That was indeed ugly; it can't hide the reality, and importantly, makes mockery of any thinking power.
In the next advertisement, a kid comes with a toy limousine car and asks the shopkeeper (celebrity) for cells. Upon using those cells, the toy instantaneously becomes a big full-size, 4 door limousine. Our celebrity exclaims "I never thought the cells are so powerful... there is something big in them ....". (To be fair, there was bit of creativity as well: The next kid brings a toy dinosaur and asks for cells). This ad was simply bad. It replaces established norms and kind of does brain washing of those kids.
So much for this projected power of cells and shoes. One wishes that these dreams come true one day.
Seriously, there is a big problem that no one in the advertisement delivery chain seems to take responsibility for. These type of adverts are always targeted to influence young people and children. They strive to create a bigger-than-life images about their products; it doesn't matter whether it maps to any trace of reality... So they can't afford to teach rational decision making that requires one to measure things, understand the real choices ...
Interestingly, there was another advertisement which was very very positive, and I would truly like to thank the person who came out with the idea. This advert showed Mahendra Dhoni (a cricketer of excellence) in duplicate - one as a train's ticket collector, and another as he himself. And he says "I chose and worked to become what I am today; otherwise, I could have been that" pointing to train's ticket collector. And the advert (that of shoe polish) then says just one thing - "Outshine."; which very meaningfully has captured both the required meanings. Very positive communication all along, especially for young people for whom he is most popular icon today.
Of course, you can find fault with this one too: "How can they show Ticket Collector in a bad light?". But, that is not the feeling that you end up with, so I wouldn't buy this argument.
Unfortunately, the life goes on and on like that. Strong impressions are made on young people and are hard to remove later. The damage should be understood by those who are responsible for these things. If designed those bad and ugly advertisements, you will understand the kind of power (and damage) you have. May be a subset of kids are smart, and can even appreciate your creativity. But you can't ignore those remaining kids. After all, would you yourself like to become like robots; tools in other people's hands?
In the next advertisement, a kid comes with a toy limousine car and asks the shopkeeper (celebrity) for cells. Upon using those cells, the toy instantaneously becomes a big full-size, 4 door limousine. Our celebrity exclaims "I never thought the cells are so powerful... there is something big in them ....". (To be fair, there was bit of creativity as well: The next kid brings a toy dinosaur and asks for cells). This ad was simply bad. It replaces established norms and kind of does brain washing of those kids.
So much for this projected power of cells and shoes. One wishes that these dreams come true one day.
Seriously, there is a big problem that no one in the advertisement delivery chain seems to take responsibility for. These type of adverts are always targeted to influence young people and children. They strive to create a bigger-than-life images about their products; it doesn't matter whether it maps to any trace of reality... So they can't afford to teach rational decision making that requires one to measure things, understand the real choices ...
Interestingly, there was another advertisement which was very very positive, and I would truly like to thank the person who came out with the idea. This advert showed Mahendra Dhoni (a cricketer of excellence) in duplicate - one as a train's ticket collector, and another as he himself. And he says "I chose and worked to become what I am today; otherwise, I could have been that" pointing to train's ticket collector. And the advert (that of shoe polish) then says just one thing - "Outshine."; which very meaningfully has captured both the required meanings. Very positive communication all along, especially for young people for whom he is most popular icon today.
Of course, you can find fault with this one too: "How can they show Ticket Collector in a bad light?". But, that is not the feeling that you end up with, so I wouldn't buy this argument.
Unfortunately, the life goes on and on like that. Strong impressions are made on young people and are hard to remove later. The damage should be understood by those who are responsible for these things. If designed those bad and ugly advertisements, you will understand the kind of power (and damage) you have. May be a subset of kids are smart, and can even appreciate your creativity. But you can't ignore those remaining kids. After all, would you yourself like to become like robots; tools in other people's hands?
posted by Vinod Kulkarni at
10:45 PM
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