Nationalism, the ad way

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Have you been surprised by the spate of advertisements of sundry products espousing nationalism and social consciousness on TV off late?

In contrast with TV commercials that parade Bollywood celebs, these ads use unknown faces only, whirling the national flag on your TV screen asserting Hum mein hai hero, stirring your conscience against corruption saying Jaago Re or even encouraging you to speak up against violence using the 3G cellphone. They are here not only to sell a commodity, but to have you emotionally attached with a cause and resultantly the brand as well.

Advertising professionals say this upsurge in ‘nationalistic’ ads and a concurrent unrest in public sentiment is no co-incidence. Advertisements are created keeping in mind the prevalent public mood, that at present is dominated by anxiety over problems like crime and corruption.

The advertising fraternity is just cashing in on that. Amit Shrivastava, a consumer insight and brand consultant, says, “Advertisements with themes of social awareness always click with the Indian audience. Today, after a series of scams and scandals, and a popular anti-corruption movement, we see commercials talking about the same.

These ads provide a feeling of reassurance that atleast someone is doing something about these problems. These are very simple ads but instantly connect with the audience.”

In a recent Tata Tea commercial, a woman is shown preparing tea and comparing the process with the making of a revolution. Her husband reads out the day’s headlines from a newspaper, which are all about corruption. In response, she says, “Desh ubal raha hai, ayega josh, dam, mithas, badlega desh ka rang” and ends with Chaye piyein, soch badlein.”

Then there is the Sirjee series of ads of Idea cellular network featuring actor Abhishek Bachchan. The latest one, has a reluctant witness to an incident of hooliganism encouraged by Bachchan to upload the incident’s video and thereby Bina munh khole sab bol de. Both these ads are created by the Lowe Lintas advertising agency.

Anaam Mishra, executive creative director with Lowe Lintas, says, “Tata Tea ad was definitely inspired by the mood of the country following the recent political developments. We wanted to give out a message that everything is not lost. With optimism we can still save the nation.”

Then there are other advertisements like Hero MotoCorp’s AR Rahman musical, Samsung Champ’s Youth Parliament, Rotomac Pen’s ‘Write to Information’, Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India’s commercials and Big Cinema’s ‘The silent anthem’.

The last one is created by the reputed DDB Mudra Advertising. Its chief operating officer Pratap Bose says, “The ‘Silent Anthem’ which portrays deaf and dumb children singing the national anthem with sign language has become a huge rage in Mumbai specifically. These days it is not enough to sell your product. The brand has to stand for a larger good. The future of advertising lies in promoting social awareness and every commercial which follows this formula is sure to go viral.”