Liquid sin

A good chocolate can transform your mood in a couple of satisfying bites. And if that happens to be a good Belgian chocolate filled into the heart of a chocolatey biscuit, you could call it chocolate heaven. Or Pure Magic Chocolush. And so you have this TVC by McCann Bengaluru for Britannia, where a young lady is walking the streets of some very European little village with ornate box in hand. Another lady spies her and comes with an equally ornate key that fits in this box. And voila! As the box seems to melt away you see the packaging of Pure Magic Chocolush and then there’s magic in the air. And just in case you needed a differentiator, the biscuit is oblong in shape. Who cares what the shape is? If the taste is anything like what was conjured up, it’s going to end up very crushed in my mouth the moment I set eyes on it.

Questions & answers

I’ve been a fan of Greenply ads. I still remember the little Sardar boy on a trip to Tamil Nadu and how it turns out that he has reincarnated, and he finds his old (literally) wife, much to the consternation of his appalled parents. And the Greenply furniture is still intact. The TVC was hilarious. To me it is a classic. This was followed by a series of rather good TVCs. O&M seemed unstoppable. Now there is another little series where seemingly unconnected scenarios prompt apparently unanswerable questions, and then the viewer is told that maybe this particular question cannot be answered, but if you have any questions about plywood, you could “Ask Greenply”. So you have this scenario where a devout couple catch a holy man indulging in non-vegetarian food and spirits. Or where an ageing father brings home his young bride to the son worshipping the portrait of his dead mother. And the protagonist is asked the rhetorical question “How could you…?” There is no answer, but meanwhile the table is shown warping or burning and the film leads the viewer to Ask Greenply any question she might have on plywood, whether it could be waterproof, fire-proof, termite-proof and so on. It’s a very different way to get viewers involved in seeking answers to questions about the product. Especially when the uses for the product are probably beyond the knowledge of the viewer.

Brand Arvind

I saw this rather long TVC issued by the Delhi Government, I think. I can’t think of any private sector advertiser being so self-indulgent. It has a young lady as a narrator and she bemoans the rising costs eating into her monthly budget. And then she says that after the Arvind Kejriwal government came into power, power bills have gone down dramatically. And then she rambles on about how everyone seems to be after Arvind Kejriwal, and she says costs have been brought down because Kejriwal has brought down corruption. And she sends up a not-so-silent prayer to protect “Arvind”. I was amazed. I recalled all those grotesque print ads from Central and State governments over the years that carried huge pictures of self-serving ministers and sundry politicos. Now we are being introduced to this in the electronic media. No pictures but a huge brand-building effort for one individual. And I loved the way she kept referring to him as “Arvind”. Makes the brand so friendly and approachable! Works well, more so when you are using my money!

Vox Pop: Reader Sai Shruthi feels, “Shah Rukh Khan endorses Hyundai. I wouldn’t hold the person responsible if the company’s car has a little problem. The brand ambassador has nothing to do with the making of the product. But stars have a pivotal responsibility while endorsing products like packaged food which is consumed by a huge population that considers stars’ assurance vital.

And reader Ravi Shankar is emphatic when he writes in, “Celebrities take in large sums of money. They should be morally responsible. And they should not be endorsing products of questionable health or safety issues.” Thank you, Shruthi and Ravi.

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

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