Humor in Indian Ads

chillibreeze writer — Aparna Phillip

Humor has a universal language. It doesn’t need degrees in obscure languages, hardly ever in Clinical Psychology and it is one of the few devices used to make people smile and think at the same time. Great messages have been passed in the guise of humor, great authors and playwrights have used it over the centuries. If there are great tragedies there are also great comedies. So is it surprising that advertising has used this medium to sell a wide spectrum of products?!

The effect of these ads is felt by all of us in our daily lives. My two year old recently said ‘Vaango’, I was a proud mama for a minute, thinking that perhaps she was trying to learn a new language, till I realized that she was only repeating the new Bingo ad. There went my hopes for a genius baby.

Humor has always got our attention. It could be controversial, subtle, blatant or slapstick. However it is used, humor sticks. Ad makers often take the commonplace and make them more exotic, twisted or just different enough to create an impact. In the case of the Smirnoff Vodka ads, the world seen through a vodka filled glass is completely different from the reality – or is it the other way round?

It took me a while to realise that the cute bunny and the homey teddy were doing more than just being bounced about by the ‘Blaupunkt’ speakers! Talk about subtlety. On the flip side are the very exaggerated and obvious Axe ads, which really don't leave much to the imagination. Recently they came up with ads that had famous fairy tale heroines doing unspeakably naughty things to all in Fairyland - from the seven dwarfs down to poor Prince Charming! This begs the question that maybe even humor has to draw the line somewhere.

To be effective, humor has to be used innovatively, keeping in mind the target audience and what message the ad needs to convey. Consider the new Pepsodent ad: it is funny while not being so in your face, it gets to the required target audience of kids and espouses the 10 “values” of the toothpaste without getting preachy. And the ringing ‘Cheatercock’ gets everyone’s attention too. For the marriage-obsessed Indian, the humor in the ‘JeevanSaathi.Com’ ad, where the father is trying to find a bridegroom for his daughter in practically every man, does not fail to get the required attention.

Sarcasm works well and when that is directed at the boss – can it get any better??!!! Poor Hari Sadu did indeed get a taste of his own tea, eh, sorry medicine. There was also suddenly a dearth of new born baby boys named “Hari”.

Indian audiences are very verbal and therefore prefer to have very verbal ads rather than subtle and non-verbal ad messages. There is also a rather sharp demarcation between urban and rural Indians.

Some ad makers do find a point where the twain do meet, as in a recent ad for Camlin Permanent markers, where, in a rural Rajasthani village the husband passes away and the ‘Rudalis ’or the professional mourners come to the hut and start breaking the recent widow’s bangles and mangalsutra but cannot remove her bindi as her husband had used Camlin permanent marker, as a result of which he gets a second life! There was no conversation just the tag line “Camlin permanent markers – really permanent.” The message got through perfectly.

We also like comparing ourselves to our neighbors and either want to keep up with the Joneses or want to be better than the rest. Therefore we have every neighbor in an up market housing colony peeping into Mrs Sharma’s bedroom. It turns out they were all just checking out her new wall paint finishes! Or we have Sharukh Khan forgiving his neighbors everything because ‘Santro Waale hain’.

The best ad that has recently hit Indian TVs and which has actually got a couple of sequels to it, are the Orbit ads!!! Dr Bhatondekar has probably started his own language or Bhatodhekarisms- “In the before”, “see the handsome” and “It is a must for bachelor mans and bachelor womans.” The concept was novel, interesting, imaginative and very, very funny.

Our most scared animal has finally left her mark in the Indian ad scene, either being wooed by the ‘Fully Vaccinated African Black Bull’ or as the winner of a beauty contest, Ms. Palampur, with the Big B himself promising that next year she will be in films. The products of these two ads were Orbit and Cadburys chocolate. Seen any cows chew on these lately?

Humor being humor can be packaged appropriately to sell any product - however controversial or embarrassing. Which is good as it is a makes an effective weapon to be used to get social messages across. The series of ads using humor to spread AIDS awareness throughout India is effective without being offensive.

Television ads have a small window of 30 to 60 seconds to try and capture the target audience and get the message across. Print media has to rely on capturing attention at the flick of a page. In both, humor is an effective tool. A recent Foster’s beer ad, after the World Cup Series, showed a picture of the World Cup and below it were these lines “Fosters: Australian for habit”. Succinct.

How could I end this without mentioning the ‘Utterly, butterly’ that stared 40 years ago! Amul ads are iconic, in that they have not changed in all this time. They are as contemporary today as they were four decades ago when they created a sensation in 1967. I would try to second guess what the weekly ad copy would be about. Remember “Aati kya makhan dala? Amul on everyone’s lips’. The ads were funny, simple and on occasion controversial but always they did their job – they got our attention!!

Ultimately like the Bingo ads say “No complication, only great combinations.” Humor works even if we might crinkle our nose with distaste at some of those supposedly funny ‘Fast Track’ ads.

Check out the top ten advertising firms in India in 2010.

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—About our writer:

Aparna says, "Words have fascinated me, reading is not just my escape but as important as my morning coffee. I hope to use this passion and create my own magic. My other passions are my two children, who make me laugh, scream, tear my hair- but without whom my world would still be so one dimensional. My wish list includes seeing all the seven wonders, flying in a hot-air balloon and travelling around the world in 80 days".

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