Social Advertising in India comes of age
Its been a good two decades since Indian youngsters grew up with the hugely popular 'Unity in Diversity' video 'Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiya...' describing how various creatures of God were stronger when they acted together.
In the last decade, with the mushrooming of private TV channels, social advertising such as literacy campaigns, seed & fertiliser advice for farmers and family planning issues (Hum Do Hamaare Do- i.e. two kids/ family) were pushed in the background and only the national broadcaster Doordarshan trudged ahead with important messages, most done a bit boringly.
Then suddenly last year everyone was talking of Global Warming, the melting Himalayan glaciers and the Blight-of-Plastic, and before we knew it some bright chap in Corporate India turned a mobile phone advert into a Green-India message. Ever since then there's been no stopping the private and government sponsors.
We have ads now that tell us about 1411 tigers left in India (showing ultra cute orphaned tiger cubs, so you'd have to be a monster not to think about their cause), ads that tell us that sending text messages saves paper, little kids worried that there will be no petrol left when they grow up so they must buy a cycle and funky teenage-cartoons telling you that power-saving is cool.
However what's impressive is the speed with which Public Sector Agencies are making adverts to address immediate, relevant issues. For example, after a spate of much-publicised recent incidents where illegal Indian migrants to the Gulf landed in trouble with authorities and were victims of work-place harrassment or were cheated by touts even before they left India, most channels started showing the Ministry's advert of how to apply for work permits the 'right way' and the dangers of entering a foreign land illegally.
After a recent high profile drink-and-drive accident in Mumbai (there have been several in the past but the media was relentless on this one for some time), we saw TV adverts showing an over-confident North Indian bloke, bragging about his driving prowess under the influence of alcohol [ 'Abbey meri gaadi toh kabhi tetchh bhee nahin hoti kisi se...'] just before crashing ! My main thought was - finally, finally we are taking this a bit more seriously....
There are a lot more examples: the National Disaster Management Agency is telling people how to be safe during earthquakes after the recent ones quakes around the world- very relevant considering most of North India is in danger as the Indian plateau pushes into the Himalayas. Aamir Khan (famous Bolly-star) is telling Indians to respect tourists and not cheat them, a health ad on diabetes tells you how lead a healthy life (South Asians are most susceptible to diabetes) and Akshay Kumar (another bolly-hunk) is telling everyone to pay their Income Tax on time. You name an issue and before you've blinked there's an dvert across the channels!
The one advert that still continues is the literacy ad persuading rural Indians to educate their young girls. Yes there is still a long way to go but as they say - the journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step.
In the last decade, with the mushrooming of private TV channels, social advertising such as literacy campaigns, seed & fertiliser advice for farmers and family planning issues (Hum Do Hamaare Do- i.e. two kids/ family) were pushed in the background and only the national broadcaster Doordarshan trudged ahead with important messages, most done a bit boringly.
Then suddenly last year everyone was talking of Global Warming, the melting Himalayan glaciers and the Blight-of-Plastic, and before we knew it some bright chap in Corporate India turned a mobile phone advert into a Green-India message. Ever since then there's been no stopping the private and government sponsors.
We have ads now that tell us about 1411 tigers left in India (showing ultra cute orphaned tiger cubs, so you'd have to be a monster not to think about their cause), ads that tell us that sending text messages saves paper, little kids worried that there will be no petrol left when they grow up so they must buy a cycle and funky teenage-cartoons telling you that power-saving is cool.
However what's impressive is the speed with which Public Sector Agencies are making adverts to address immediate, relevant issues. For example, after a spate of much-publicised recent incidents where illegal Indian migrants to the Gulf landed in trouble with authorities and were victims of work-place harrassment or were cheated by touts even before they left India, most channels started showing the Ministry's advert of how to apply for work permits the 'right way' and the dangers of entering a foreign land illegally.
After a recent high profile drink-and-drive accident in Mumbai (there have been several in the past but the media was relentless on this one for some time), we saw TV adverts showing an over-confident North Indian bloke, bragging about his driving prowess under the influence of alcohol [ 'Abbey meri gaadi toh kabhi tetchh bhee nahin hoti kisi se...'] just before crashing ! My main thought was - finally, finally we are taking this a bit more seriously....
There are a lot more examples: the National Disaster Management Agency is telling people how to be safe during earthquakes after the recent ones quakes around the world- very relevant considering most of North India is in danger as the Indian plateau pushes into the Himalayas. Aamir Khan (famous Bolly-star) is telling Indians to respect tourists and not cheat them, a health ad on diabetes tells you how lead a healthy life (South Asians are most susceptible to diabetes) and Akshay Kumar (another bolly-hunk) is telling everyone to pay their Income Tax on time. You name an issue and before you've blinked there's an dvert across the channels!
The one advert that still continues is the literacy ad persuading rural Indians to educate their young girls. Yes there is still a long way to go but as they say - the journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step.
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