Just because it's the Golden Age of Indian Advertising doesn't mean that anything goes. Below I've put together some of the worst commercials I've seen on TV. They're all trying to be "modern" and, in my opinion and that of everyone I've informally surveyed, they're total failures.
Of all the boring celebrity endorsements I've seen, cricket star MS Dhoni's Aricel ads are easily the worst. The man has no personal charm or charisma, when he speaks it seems he's reading off a teleprompter. The ads rely on Dhoni's celebrity to make an impact, and the ad narrative is carelessly or lamely linked to the product. I've seen tens of Dhoni ads, and I don't remember a single one of the products being advertised. Compare these to Vodafone's zoozoo ads, each of which is crearly linked to a specific Vodafone feature, and you'll see what I mean.
Oh, Axe. Axe ads are their own unique brand of awful, of course, but this one is worse than most. I've seen it at least twenty times, and someone still had to explain it to me. ("They're advertising a brand of Axe that smells like chocolate." "Ooooohhhh.")
Fans of political correctness should stay away from this ad, which apparently features two swarthy African men in tribal dress expressing their fierceness. Although it might be possible to make a good ads based on slanderous or racist stereotypes, the stereotype MTV goes for is too stupid and tired to be cutting-edge. Then again, "stupid and tired" might in fact be the image that MTV is trying to cultivate (no ever accused that channel of being a brain outfit.)
Lightening creams are a major product all over the world, even in the United States, where they are nominally illegal. It's sad to think that young Indian men aspire to John Abraham's smirking visage and professionally waxed torso. John's in-your-face half-nudity and his coy insistence that the cream is only for brightening "dark spots" comprise some of the dumbest sleight-of-hand I've ever seen, even on a device colloquially known as the "idiot box."
so....for a product that is inherently dumb, isn't haivng an intelligent ad sort-of - er - false advertising? So, maybe they're just being honest and that this is a new twist on the old 'this is an honest ad for a simple (read dumb) product' appeal. then maybe, I think if something is so stupid, it must be so intentionally, coz really how stupid can stupid be and still stay credibly stupid? (if any of this makes sense to a reader, then hats off! it barely makes sense to me, and I wrote it).
ReplyDeletegood selection. and did you say you were a marketer? i meet and train marketers, and seriously, you should consider it as a career.
as far as fairness, fair maiden, I'm sooo sick of this anglophiliac tendencies the world over. Maybe they should have an ad with the african guys advertising the 'removes dark blemishes' Garnier cream, and reach new depths of low. In Abrams' defense, he looks very ill-at-ease talking about this dumb thing. maybe the guy just has a bad agent who neglects to put anti-nudity clauses into his contracts. or something.
and a mens' perfume that smeels like chocolate? ew! There's a store in the US (shall stay un-named) that has fruit, cake, etc. in their products, but at leat they appeal to tweens and pre-teens (the right age to be influenced by that sort of stuff). give my guy the 'musky' smell of pine needles and hog sweat anyday! oh dear....