Regulating the Regulators

Indian Advertising- Falling Standards

 

The Indian advertising market was valued at nearly INR 670 billion in 2020. This market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11% during the forecast period of 2021-2026 and to reach INR 1253.2 billion by 2026.

Indian advertising industry has come a long way from the time the first product was advertised on television. The product was Gwalior Suitings and that appeared on 1 Jan, 1976. Soon, several advertisements started appearing. Majority of these advertisements were watchable and could connect with the viewers.

During the 1980’s, the following seven product advertisements became popular and were considered outstanding:

1.      Maggi noodles-  Woman preparing Maggi and assuring the kids that it would be ready in just two minutes,  a jingle in the backdrop ending with – Maggi, Maggi, Maggi

2.      Liril – A model taking bath in a natural water fall, with a jingle in the background - la-la-la- ending with a punch line- ‘Come Alive with Lime Freshness’

3.      Bajaj Scooter- A short song-‘Zindagi Ye Asuma-----Hamara Bajaj’

4.      Lijjat Papad- Jingle Karram- Purram

5.      Pan Parag- With a catchy jingle- ‘Pan Parag Pan Masala’, featuring two popular Bollywood actors- Ashok Kumar and Shammi Kapoor.

6.      Limca- Limca Time, with a jingle- ‘Lime and Lovely Limca’

7.      Vicks – Jingle- ‘Vicks Goli Lo---Keech Keech Door Karo’

 In 1990’s, the following seven product advertisements attained iconic status all over the country:

1.      Dhara- An old man convinces a young boy, who wants to run away, by promising tasty sweet.  The young boy reluctantly comes back and enjoys the sweet made from Dhara.

2.      Feviquick- A man equipped with sophisticated fishing equipment but not able to catch, helplessly watches a villager who catches fishes with a simple stick by just applying Feviquick.

3.      Cadbury Diary Milk- Girl running in to the cricket field, eating Cadbury chocolate and going crazy (Model- Shimona Rashi)

4.      Nerolac Paint- With a catchy jingle- ‘Jab ghar ki raunak badani ho……’

5.      Nirma- With a very popular jingle- ‘Washing powder Nirma- Dood Se Safedi….’

6.      Raymond- The complete man

7.      Fevicol- ‘Pakde Rehna……’

 

Advertising gurus will agree that the four universally applicable standard rules for creating any good advertisement are:

1.      Attract attention; Could be through a catchy jingle; beautiful / interesting backdrop;

2.      Build an emotional connect with the audience:

3.      Build interest/ desire, to buy or experience the feeling: and

4.      Give a clear call to action

The above listed advertisements of 1980’s and 1990 have more or less fulfilled the standard rules of advertisements and hence became popular. It may be even claimed that, these advertisements are watchable even today and will be much more impactful than the recent advertisements that are created for the same products.

When I watch the recent advertisements of some of the popular brands, I am appalled and disturbed. I am dumbstruck at the height of stupidity and confused whether to laugh, or to just brush it aside, for the lack of imagination and creativity. To stress and reinforce the image of the product, the concept creator of the advertisement often goes down to substandard / abysmal levels. There are many such advertisements, but only a few are highlighted below:

1.      Cadbury Gems – Principal going crazy after the gems. The concept is repulsive. Even the earlier advertisement – ‘Dadaji ke Nam par’….featuring Piyush Raina was substandard

2.      Cadbury Five Star- Unimpressive

3.      Bites Potato Chips- Annoying concept

4.      Asian Paints Ultima Protek featuring Bollywood hero, Ranbir Kapoor- Matchmaker

5.      Asian Paints Ultima Protek, Rag Malhar, featuring again Bollywood hero, Ranbir Kapoor

6.      Bajaj Pulsar- Just to impress upon the brand image- ‘Definitely Male’, the advertisement creator has only created suspicion, whether the motorcycle is for comfort riding or for doing unimaginable dangerous stunts. This concept is almost universally followed by all the motor cycle brands and also by soft drinks.

7.      Thumbs Up advertisement featuring Bollywood actor, Ranveer Singh and Tollywood super hero, Mohan Babu.

8.      The recent advertisement of Sprite- Everything crumbles;

9.      Flipcart- The concept of using children for the promotion

10.  All the ads of Bingo, ITC.

11.  Mountain Dew- Advertisement featuring Bollywood star- Hrithik Roshan

12.  Bisleri- Featuring camels

 

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), is the voluntary, self-regulating council, responsible for promotion, advertising and for enhancing public confidence in advertisements. ASCI investigated complaints against 533 advertisements in March and April 2020, of which 115 advertisements were withdrawn by the advertisers on receipt of objection from ASCI. The independent Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of ASCI evaluated the remaining 418 advertisements, out of which complaints against 377 advertisements were upheld. Of these, 377 advertisements, 187 belonged to the healthcare sector, 132 belonged to the education sector, 15 to the food and beverages sector, 9 to real estate, 5 to visa / immigration sector and 24 from the ‘Others’ category. In April 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was in peak, ASCI forced 50 Covid cure advertisements to withdraw within a week.

An encouraging development is the consumer Protection Act 2019, which is in the implementation stage, holds manufacturers, service providers and celebrity endorsers accountable for advertisements, and stipulates heavy fines and even jail terms for misleading advertisements.

Promotion through advertisement is a very costly affair and companies spend a fortune on creating advertisements. A company on an average allocates about 10% of its total budget for marketing and advertisements. Some big MNCs like Coca Cola, Pepsi, HUL and others splurge mindboggling money on promotion.

One simple question haunts me a lot- how the reputed companies accept such inferior and substandard advertisements, which are expected to keep the customer interest in their products, enhance the brand image and also loyalty?

Hope to find the answer sooner or later!

(The views / comments expressed and made in this article are the personal and individual opinions of the author)

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