Oct 03, 2002 06:14 PM
3521 Views
(Updated Oct 03, 2002 06:14 PM)
I am no expert on advertising so I am writing this review from a layman’s-point of view.
First of all what makes a good advertisement? I don’t know what the Ad Gurus say but according to me a good ad Should have the following points:
It should capture my attention
It should convince me to buy the product
It must be something that I can identify with
But judging by the Ads That Presently come on TV I would be lucky if a majority of them fulfill even one of these points. Most of the Present advertisements on TV rely mostly on shock value or sex to sell their products. Most make tall claims about their products and more than sterch the truth ( remember Home-Trade?) . I could go on and on about the deteriorating standards , the lack of decency , philosophical meaning of the ads etc, but I just prefer to present my favorites and not so favorite ads before you with a brief comment about it .
The Good
Sony They used to show this ad last year. It was just so cool . Just shows a day in the life of a man. He is normal enough. But everything around him is from the movies. E.g. The auto-rickshaw meter countdowns to zero mission impossible style before exploding; Matrix-style fights in the convenience store; giant cow looming over the city ( Godzilla-style). The point was to show the high standards of their products ( at least , that’s what I cloud figure out ) and it worked ( well , to a certain extent ) .
Fevicol No , not the famed bridge ad , but an earlier one . Shows a man trying to crack an egg , but to no avail . He finally tries to examine the chicken from whence it came. Turns out the chicken-feed was stored in a used jar of fevicol. I personally liked it much ,more than the bridge one.
Sprite These are the only series of ads on soft drinks which actually emphasize the taste of the drink and not just the image of the product. My favorite ones are the one where the college Romeo chats with the person drinking the sprite and the (much earlier ) “ Dakaar” one( which is a pot-shot at a Pepsi ad , by the way ) . Congratulations to the guy who thought up the line “Bujhaye only Pyass , baki sab bakwas” ( translation:Quenches only thirst , everything else a waste )
The Bad
VIP Frenchie Your underwear is something that is normally not exposed to the general public. It is supposed to be comfortable. But the guys who thought this ad up probably had difficulty understanding this . This ad ( if you can all it that ) shows these two women peeking at a man exercising in his underwear and then fainting at the sight of him . What is the message I am supposed to get from this ad ? That my underwear will make me more attractive ? Perhaps they were aiming this ad at Male strippers or maybe Superman .
Feast
“ The big F” & “ What’s on your stick”: At first , they sound like titles of some Adult porn movies. Nope. They are just the bylines for ice cream . I positively hate these ads . Might grab your attention , but full of lewd undertones . Besides nothing about the ice cream itself .
Brylcreem
Guy with a towel wrapped around his waist. Decides to impress the on looking ladies with his new hairstyle ( using brylcreem of course) . Tries two . Not very impressive . Tries a third d hairstyle which finally impresses the ladies. Normally this would have made an excellent ad . But alas, he takes off his towel before showing them his hair .. Ahem . What IS the point of that ? I cannot figure out if they are impressed by his hair or his…
The Ugly
Axe Deo
This ones doing the rounds at the moment . Bit vulgar , but witty. Two guys are show on screen ( shirtless) one looks down and says “ Mines bigger” . “How shameful” you say to yourself … but turns out he is holding a extra–large can of axe deo.
Well, there you have it . A little bit of information about the ads I like ( and don’t like) . A topic such as this is way too big to fit within 8000 characters . So I had to leave it here .
