Tuesday, August 22, 2017

When ads cross the line

Why ad makers are moving away from modesty to sell their products
Today, we are living in a world small enough to bring everyone close to each other no matter the distance. Well, not literally but virtually.
Gone are those days when we had to wait to know about the things happening on the other side of the globe. With a click of a button, we can see things happening live.
Everything has progressed, and in the midst of these changes, so have advertisements. Remember the cute commercial of Dhara cooking oil where a kid pretends to leave his home, only to return back on the mention of the sweet ‘Jalebi’? Or for that matter the jingles of Nirma washing powder which we till date hum away. However, they say: nothing is permanent, and so is the case with our advertising field.
Now we have a celebrity making lustful expressions while enjoying a fruit juice, or a man attracting a fleet of women on a mere spray of a deodorant.
So, why has this change happened?
As Harish Bijoor, brand domain specialist and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, says that ads reflect a nation's changing attitude and that’s why they have been different for each era, starting from the time we got independence where they were more patriotic in nature and giving precedence to the concept of ‘Jai Jawaan, Jai Kisan’ to the Seventies and mid-Eighties where the concept was the ideal family of four and the ads were around the concept of ‘Hum do, hamare do’. “The change as per him started around the Ninetees when people became more aware about themselves and the nuclear families emerged. The mentality drastically changed in the 2000’s when narcissism became the calling and that is when the concept of ‘sex and sensuality’ came into being.”
“Although sexuality was still sold in the adult ads but sensuality stated overtaking the day-to-day things and even commodities like deodorants and juices took the form of sensual ads for those 30 seconds,” he said.
Yes, agreed we are progressing and the fact is that sex does sell, but does it mean that ad agencies and brands add sexual appeal in every advertisments made just to sell a particular product or service. “Nowadays, the emotional connect with the audience has diminished,” says KV Sridhar, founder, Hyper Collective, adding that due to the emotional connect going missing, people are crossing the line and making mindless concepts. According to him, “With the evolution of e commerce and social media, everyone wants to do things quickly and in the process, the relatability factor which one had with the ads earlier has gone missing.”
Says Sridhar, “With the advent of social media, each one wants to share their story and that is why it’s all about ‘a story lived is better than a story told.” This makes advertising more concentrated and meaningful in telling a three-minute story on the social media than on TV in just 30 seconds.
Ramanujam Sridhar, founder and CEO, Brand-Comm, says that ads in India are changing also because of the liberal and progressive attitudes of its people. “What was considered a taboo around 20 years ago is very easily acceptable in the modern times. Hence, one can see more of sex, lust and sensuality in ads.”
But do these ads have a future? Would they continue to be more lustful and sexually progressive in the future too? Sridhar does not see a change in the situation and just hopes that good sense prevails when one is back to making more family-oriented ads. Bijoor is of the view that although ‘greed is good, we have given away too many things to achieve more. He, however, believes that in the world of sensual ads, “even if one non-sensual ad comes, it will make people sit up and maybe that would be the starting of a change.”
All these changes would not happen in a day and might take years to happen and that’s why Ramanujan says that the government should put some regulations to the screening of these ads, so that the family can sit together and watch them during prime time.
All said and done, there is no doubt that advertising plays an important role in the life of a common man. Hence, one can self-reglate and come up with simple ideas instead of bringing a sensual touch to every product being sold.


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