In most ads products solve problems they are not supposed to.
A chewing gum wins a guy a girl. A cola gives you the kind of euphoria that usually comes from doing illegal drugs. A deo makes you attract women the way Paris Hilton attracts paparazzi. A talcum powder lands you a job.
Most products will win you a girl. Or get you an undeserved promotion. How? No one knows but everyone buys this logic and hence the products. No one says, ‘Hey, I bought your chocolate and my sex life still sucks.’ (‘You got to give it time, ma’m. Keep having our chocolates.’ ‘For how long?’ ‘I don’t know, till you’re sixty and senile.’ ‘Ok, thanks. Have a nice one.’ ‘You too.’)
Wouldn’t it be nice if all a chocolate did was satisfy your craving for chocolate? The problem is there are so many chocolate brands. And they’re all alike.
The other thing about ads is, the people they show are always deliriously happy. Like they’ve just escaped from a lunatic asylum. And their hair is always shiny, their skin always smooth and their teeth always pearly. Unless they are in say, a shampoo ad, in which case, they start with ridiculously bad hair and end up with ridiculously good hair via the product which as a bonus also sorts out their sex life, avoids a major social blunder, prevents the third world war and finds a cure for cancer.
The average ad is just that, average. Here’s the exception - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BlV1j8tBZ4
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There is an opportunity to break stereotypes and noone does. The exceptions are brands like Dove and everyone knows what happened. Subbu
ReplyDeleteHi Josh,
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you blogging!
It's good to know what's going on in that super brain of yours when you are not churning out ideas by the drove to rescue us all from "crises" at work, or thinking of
"that one in pink" (manipal cafeteria, remember?)
Enjoyed your post "Men like you and me (almost)" specially. It took me back in time to my childhood when my Papa (my late father, who was a Professor of English) used to take me through his vast collection of literature on these amazing artists. Certainly, some of the fondest memories I have of Papa are from those times.
Net net, intend to do two things with immediate efect:
1) Watch atleast one movie by all those lesser known but "great" movie directors you have listed down.
2) Read your posts regularly, since they are the tequila shot equivalent of a lifelong course in GK!
- Yamini
Wow Yamini that's a sweet and flattering letter. Hope my posts live up to your expectations. - Joshi
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