I was a copywriter with an advertising agency those days. I was assigned a client who sold spices. I was expected to create a new ad campaign for him, because the present one had apparently gone stale.
Behind the Ads [Illustration by Shinod AP]
I got very excited. I had finally got an opportunity to work towards ‘building a brand’ and ‘shaping customer perception’.
When we got down to work, we realised that there was nothing new in the product. It was exactly the same as the previous year. No improvement in quality or packaging, no reduced costs either. But, we had to do something. We were creative people, after all.
Then the idea bug struck. In the ad campaign, we talked about how how getting raw spices and grinding them did not guarantee high quality because good spices did not grow everywhere. You cannot compare the chillies of Rajasthan to the ones that grow near Yamuna, we said. In effect, what we were saying was that this particular spice company took care to procure its raw materials from places which were well known for those ingredients.
There did not seem anything wrong with what we were saying. The only problem was that the person who represented our client was not sure about the origin of the ingredients used in the spices.
But he liked our ad capsule. It had the potential to catch attention and increase sales, he said.
This is just a small illustration of how an advertisement gets made, though the situation is not always this bad. Many products do have a unique selling proposition (USP). But many have none. And then, it is the adman’s job to create a USP, which can be as simple as ‘growing up’ to a taste or ‘your heart asking for more’.
Pay to get conned
It pays to sensitise oneself to the mad ad world. Just look around and see how needs (read demands) are created.
Who needs a carbonated drink? No one does. But before you realised what was happening, an entire generation was happily guzzling the cola. Do you know that the real value of the drink may be 10 per cent of the ‘x’ amount of money you pay for it?
Agreed, that the company has to pay taxes, give margins to its distributors and retailers and bear wage bills. But, it also needs to pay for the ads that create your need for the drink.
Frankly speaking, you pay to get conned. Isn’t that amazing?
Capturing mindspace
Have you ever wondered how easily these crisp ad lines shape your perception about a ‘brand’ and dislike for another, although both may be made of the same material and perhaps in the same factory!
What is even more amazing is the contradictions we create between our beliefs and actions when we fall for these crisp one liners.
We indulge in a lot of rhetoric about ‘not attributing values’ to skin colour, but we have an extremely successful product which goes by the name of ‘Fair and Lovely’.
And our gender sensitivity does not seem to get affected when a talcum powder ad shows how a woman who is smelling good and fresh can get a job or a contract.
Obviously, this is an industry which specialises in capturing your mind space. And if this is what it can do to your mind, think about what it can do to that of a child?
Take a while and think about all the toothpaste ads you have seen. It is compared to almost everything – from a fighter plane to Sachin Tendulkar. Even the colour of the paste is a USP. Some toothpaste makes you strong for a football match, while others can help you get a girlfriend.
Some ads can be dangerous since they create the desire to become heroes. Recently, some kids bungey-jumped from their rooftops and hurt themselves when they were trying to imitate a film star in a cola ad.
But, all this does not mean we ban advertising. It is a necessary evil. It makes you aware of a certain product and provides you with a choice. In a market driven economy, products need to move. There have to be innovations of all kinds. And advertising is as much a part of this game as product design itself.
You cannot really do much about ads appearing in between television serials or in newspapers. It is these ads which actually pay for your entertainment and news programmes. Without ads, a newspaper may cost Rs. 10 and you may have to pay for every serial you watch, just like the novels you buy.
So, does this mean we are stuck in a catch-22 situation? Not really. Any advertising that hurts public sentiments, in any way, can be reported to the Advertising Council of India. You can even go to a consumer court, if the matter is serious.
What is most important is that you need to sensitise yourself and your kids about these communications. If possible, you need to think hard about the ‘motives’ behind them and explain them to your children.
If an ad says a certain product is the in-thing, your child may just fall in love with that product. You will have to put in some effort to help her/him divorce fact from fantasy. This will help your child to become an aware consumer, who can rationalise before deciding to buy.
