Ad-vantages
Television ads always meant a lot to me in my growing years. Though I didn’t quite understand the fineries of the advertising trade then, I always loved the stories they told. Sometimes they were about the an office worker who was bullied by his colleagues because his shirt was not white enough; and then one fine day his wife learned from her neighbour about a detergent that worked wonders; the next day the man became the cynosure of all eyes in his office and his boss promoted him. Stories of pimpled faces going petal-soft and Cinderellas getting jaw-dropping makeovers with a face cream or a shampoo were the commonest of them all. And then, there were the LUX soap ads. When I was a kid, they were done by Sridevi, Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit - synonymous to goddesses for me then, considering my only exposure to Bollywood was limited to Chitrahar and the Saturday afternoon movie show. Then slowly the Indian advertising industry began to come of age. We were gifted with masterpieces like the Fevicol ads and heart warming ads like the Amul Taste of India campaigns. Here’s some fragments of how ads have framed my childhood and adolescence and continues to keep me staring at my television set, in between cricket matches, movies and soaps. Here’s a tribute to the versatility of Indian advertising.
Jingles and tag lines that will stay with us forever:
Amul- The Taste of India
Bajaj - Hamara Bajaj
Melody - yeh melody itni chocolaty kyun hai? & melody khao khud jaan jao
Berger - wah sunil babu…naya ghar, nayi biwi….
Amrutanjan strong - chole gechhe
Asian Paints - kyun ki har ghar kuchh kehta hai
Chlormint - dobara mat poochhna
Lifebuoy - tandurusti ki raksha karta hai lifebouy, lifebuoy hai jahaan, tandurusti hai wahan
Zandu Balm - zandu balm zandu balm peerahari balm, sardi sardard peera ko pal mein duur kare zandu balm, zandu balm Mirinda - zor ka jhatka dheere se lage
Complan - dekho ami barchhi mummy
Maggi - mummy bhookh lagi…do minute
Vicks - vicks ki goli lo, khichkhich duur karo
Cadbury - Pappu pass ho gaya & kuchh khaas hai zindagi mein
Britannia - eat healthy think better. tan tan ta nan
Maggi hot and sweet tomato chilli sauce - It’’s different
Nirma - washing powder Nirma washing powder Nirma, dodh si safedi, Nirma se aye, rangeen kapda bhi khil khil jaye
Close up - kya aap close up karte hain….aap closeup kyon nahin karte hain
Lays - noone can eat just one
Boroline - Surobhito antiseptic cream Boroline
The Airtel jingle composed by A R Rehman
Visuals that stunned us with their sheer wit & depth:
- An overloaded truck overflowing with passengers moving through a bumpy terrain in Rajasthan. That’s the best Fevicol ad ever made under the sun (Ref.Fevicol bus ad).
- A man out for morning walk sees a 500 rupees note lying on the road, stops by it and moves on - Iodex. Don’t know how many of you remember it, but I was astounded by how it said so much without wasting a single word (Ref.Iodex ad).
- The searchlight-teeth brigade that lightens up a whole palace. That’s happydent for you. Apparently it makes your teeth white (Ref. Happydent ad).
- A pug following a kid on its heels. We all know that one (Ref.Vodafone ad).
- The more recent Zoo Zoo ads are unbeatable but they are not Indian ads per say. I would still include them since I have taken my hats off for their creator (Ref. Zoo Zoo ads.
- Pond’s Domestic Violence ad; (Ref. Pond’s domestic violence ad).
Ads we would have been happier not to see or hear:
Amul macho - yeh to bara toing hai
Horlicks - epang opang jhopang
Thums Up - Akshay Kumar jumping over trucks and taking somersaults to get a bottle of Thums Up..huh Nima Rose - need I say more???
My apologies for all those avid ad-watchers; I know I have missed out on several other masterpieces. Please point them out to me. Let’s have some fun together.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:15 am
yeah..Love list: one that comes first…Dairy Milk….the ad really had that thing in it…both the jingle and the visual…remember that girl in the field…but yeah…the ad became a sore with passing time.
Hate-list: Fanta, all bike ads (i dnt know, but truly they dnt make any sense to me, i hope there is some though)
Great post…i think i will add more to this list, but later sometime may be…
June 19th, 2009 at 11:46 am
wow! that was raking up sm old memories abt nice carefree days!
btw, have you forgotten the perennially fresh liril - la la la la la…? even tho the girls kept on changing to achieve greater glory, the format of the ad remained more or less same and yet kept me glued. and i wondered abt the power of a single line of la la la la… Among that ads that told a story, most prominent is the humara bajaj (the previous one on scooter and the latter one on bikes) i love them both! its a different matter tho that bajaj ads have always been good. and the good old johnson & johnson ads… so much so that cute babies were called johnson babies! But one ad i cant stand is the vicco turmeric (nahi cosmetic) ad… it wins hands down the award fr ‘the most irritating ad’
June 19th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Ads I loved:
Nirma(coz it takes me back to my childhood)
Asian Paints(I like that tagline “Hatr Ghar kuch kehta hai”)
Dhara(jalebi)
Dairy Milk ads(that girl)
Fevicol Ads
Hate Ads:
I hate Akshay Kumar Thums Up ads
Sanjay Dutt/Sunny Deol vest ads
Bike ads too
M seal, Btex, and lots more
Loved ur post palla…
June 19th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I love zoo zoo ads of vodafone and also the old hutch ads
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Some of my all time favorites:
- Humara Bajaj
- Accenture
- Amul (the ability to come up with a new one every week is no easy job)
- Sundrop
- Fevicol
- All print ads for The Economist and Volkswagen
Stupid ones:
- PSPO nahi jaante?
- Chlor-mint
- MDH
- Virgin Mobiles (the first campaign)
June 24th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
June 25th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
nice collection the one u recollected…although i wonder why u say ZooZoo ads arent Indian? As far as I know they were Indian concepts.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I had an impression the zoozoo ads were made in South Africa
June 25th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
You are right Pallavi those Ads were made in South Africa..but did anyone found anything for that it could not be done in India? One more thing the colour scheme of these Ads were mostly white and grey with real people with masks acting as zoozoo, no animation…
June 26th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Loved your latest post, by the way.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
per say -> per se….is there some intended pun I missed out?
Nice compilation nonetheless…
July 25th, 2009 at 7:39 am
No Mahatma…no pun intended. Had I intended a pun, I would have made sure that you do not miss it
July 25th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Hi Pallavi,
The ZooZoo ads are all Indian, just the shoot has taken place in South Africa. The Ad is another creative spectacle of OnM Mumbai, probably the most creative of all Indian agencies.
July 25th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Ads i love to watch again and again:
Bajaj (both the old and the new corporate campaigns)
Fevicol ads
Chlormint Chewing Gum ads (nice catch- ad)
Happydent
Enfield
Hutch ads
Airtel- Relationship campaigns
Iodex one which u mentioned Palla- tht was astounding
Hurley Davidson campaigns- Pls refer youtube for these
I really dont dislike ads as its all about selling products…….
September 1st, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Hi Pallavi,
this is my first visit to your blog and really liked your ad-vantages. One more ad I really love is the SBI one, where all oldies play cricket. Just love it!
May 8th, 2010 at 8:22 am
I wish getting over a broken heart can be so easy as following a few steps.. but its not…
June 29th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Nice post. The other day I stumbled upon Lalita ji on Youtube…it’s been so long since I saw that classic. It started me off on a classic ads hunting spree…another one of my favourites was the Sil Ad where Kunal Vijaykar starts bawling when he finds his lunch has been stolen….LOL. And then there are the good old Nirma ads..and also the Onida devil, yet another classic. Guess that’s the sign of a truly good ad – recall value and that feeling of meeting a long lost friend from your childhood. Do you remember any another Ad which brings back such memories?
July 27th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
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August 10th, 2010 at 7:05 am
i like it