Wednesday 14 September 2011

Zalim, Social Responsibility bhi koi cheez hoti hai!

An Ad is a powerful medium, not just to influence buying, but also to alter usage patterns. People try to mimic what they see, be it a Shahrukh Khan whizzing past heavy traffic in a small car, or a Dhoni carrying a bunch of his team mates on his bike meant for two. Most people are also quick to associate with the 'common man' meant to represent them in an Ad setting.

Here's one such Commercial:
Setting I : A second class crowded train compartment, a young man is shown to have a skin infection. A girl looks at his discomfort and offers him 'Zalim Lotion'.
Setting II : The same compartment. a different day. The guy confirms he is cured after using the lotion.

The target segment is quite clear, so is the message - quick and permanent cure for skin infections. In that sense, the Ad is very focused and effective.

What's wrong with this you may ask: 
One, the protagonist is shown boorishly scratching his infection, first with his nails and then with a hand like contraption. Mind you, a medicine is meant to cure, not spread the disease - the whole purpose of selling a 'medicine' stands defeated.

Two, to emphasize that the cure is permanent, the over enthusiastic protagonist, now that he is completely cured, is shown to throw the medicine (or was it the contraption) out of the train window. Now if the ignorant me believes this to be the best way to dispose off my stuff, would you blame me?

Whether an Ad mimics the behaviour of the target users or if the viewers mimic an Ad is always debatable. That doesn't necessarily absolve the Ad-maker from demonstrating some Social Responsibility. What do you think?


6 comments:

unknown said...

Nice write up. Horrible ad. Why not Zandu Balm instead ?

dilip said...

I was reading and was like, the ad was just mimicking the users.. And i see you put a statement on that too!! :)
You do provide an all round perspective..

But as far as the ad goes i agree, they have to be socially responsible.. If they think they can change consumer choices through ads then behavior can also be changed through them..

I always felt Indian ads are much more creative then most of the ads i have seen in South-East Asia or US, but we still need to go a long way when it comes to showing socially-correct behavior in our ads..

Sagar said...

@Divya, Zandu Balm anoher time. Didin't intend to cause it anymore 'badnaami'.

Sagar said...

@Dilip, culturally speaking, Social Responsibility(SR) is rarely on top of our minds, for most of us, even the Ad makers. And for those who relate to SR, it is probably a risk of not connecting with the audience that they give it a bye.

Enigma© said...

As you mentioned in your comments, the Social Responsibility factor is rarely taken into account. While this ad is terrible, most other ads are similarly nonsensical.

While the other side of the story is to question of how responsible are the products available to the consumers?

Sagar said...

@DD, I could imgine you getting irked by this Ad. :-)

Interesting point on how responsible the products themselves are.