Tag Archives: history

The Changing Actors of Indian Television Advertising [Prize Winner]

Posted on by

This article was first published as a prize-winning entry in the Dec 2018 edition of the campus newsletter on marketing, Niche (Niche on Facebook here and on Twitter @iimaniche). I have added YouTube links to some old ads.

*

Some of the earliest Indian television ads have been by the soap brand Lifebuoy. Our parents, if not we, would recall how Lifebuoy entered the market as a long red bar of carbolic soap, often cut into two halves before being used, for that was an age of patent frugality. The bathing experience, with a bucket and mug, was not very similar to the shower in the tandurusti ad, but there you have it: advertising is more aspirational than realistic. How, then, has such advertising portrayed its actors?

First, the children. Who can forget the adorable girl and her sweet way of saying, “I love you, Rasna”? While Rasna might now be passé, the idea of presenting children in advertising, targeting either parents or children or both, is an incredibly winning strategy. Remember the boy beating up a puddle on the road in the Surf excel daag acche hai campaign? As all seasoned advertisers know (and many others suspect), the road to a mother’s heart (and her purse) lies through children.

Click here to continue reading.

Before the Taj, Spellbound

Posted on by

This is about an impromptu visit to the Taj Mahal – a visit motivated by sceptical curiosity rather than by a sincere interest in historical monuments – and how it left me more amazed than usual.

The first sight of the Taj Mahal takes my breath away. Nothing in photographs or gushing praise from friends has prepared me for the sheer beauty of the white structure. It is solid yet weightless, rooted on its pedestal yet floating against the backdrop of the off-white sky, reaching up to the clouds. It is unearthly.

I am so captivated that I stand awestruck, to simply stand and watch and not take a step closer. The incredible lightness of the monument seems to arise from the fact that there is only pure sky behind the Taj, no greenery, no other visible buildings, no mountains. I am in the presence of something bigger than, almost untouched by, humanity’s everyday trifling cares.

Image of the Taj Mahal against cloudy skies

When there’s only the Taj and the sky

And the inside was as incredible as the outside: intricate patterns of flowers and leaves and creepers, all etched in delicate white marble using coloured stone. Even if they were paintings, these etchings would have been works of art. That they are made of resilient stone makes the achievement astounding.

When the setting sun shone down, the subtle play of light on the domes made the Taj glow as if it were made of pearl, the side facing the sun giving off a sheen that only white marble can. At times, the building seemed to shimmer and float. As the sky grew darker with rainclouds, the white structure stood out even more, pale and light yet unshakeable.

I wondered at the vastness of the mind that envisioned such beauty before it was manifest through the monument. And I sat at a conveniently located bench, simply watching. Every school child must be sent on a sponsored trip to visit the Taj, I thought magnanimously.

On the way back, I puzzled over what made the Taj unforgettable: the building seems light as a feather floating up to the skies, and yet it seems solidly rooted to its own base. This sheer presence of opposites embodies the very real and very human paradox of wanting to belong while also wanting to stand out, to be different but also to be part of a group. We want to be up in the air, with its attendant excitement, but soon enough we long for the ground beneath our feet, and the familiar safety.

Quite clearly, the Taj Mahal can make poet-philosophers out of its beholders!