Advertising Opinions

I was happy to see that one of my favourite TV commercials is once again on air; it is the ad for Usha sewing machines. This commercial makes use of live action as well as stop-motion animation very beautifully. Live action shooting is about shooting action using a movie camera and in case of stop-motion animation a still camera is used to capture movement frame by frame. In stop-motion animation a huge number of pictures need to be shot. The story of the Usha sewing machine commercial is quite simple; a family has just moved into a new house, the husband receives a phone call and leaves for work immediately leaving his wife to do the unpacking and putting the house in order. The young wife removes her Usha Janome sewing machine from a packing case and begins working on it. She uses Usha Janome to make various art works to beautify the house; in fact she transforms the house completely to the utter surprise of her husband who returns home in the evening. What I observed in the commer...

Advertising in India has indeed come a long way. It is no longer about an ad being created in English and sometimes in Hindi and then being translated into various regional languages. For many years now ads are specially created for the regional language audience and the best time to see some excellent ads is during the festivals.  The Thums Up commercial in Bengali telecast during Durga Puja – the most auspicious festival of the Bengalis – had a concept which immediately drew my attention. It takes the celebrity route; although I am not much of an advocate of celebrity endorsements, here the presence of Soumitro Chatterjee — the much revered, legendary actor of Bengali cinema --- in my opinion adds to the overall appeal of the commercial. The concept of the commercial is inspired from the old and new traditions of the festival. The old tradition finds expression in the household Durga Pujas organized by the zamindars (landlords) and the very r...