<FONT COLOR="#FF0033"><B>Guest article:</B></FONT> The overdose of mush

Abhishake Das

ab&m Communications

I was at the brink of a breakdown, when I was hit hard by the question – How mush is too mush?

The last two weeks have been gruelling. To crunch the effort in numbers - precisely 117 scripts written, thousands thought. For a commended white goods client who has a taste for, you got it right, MUSH. So, there I was, overlooking all the viable product attributes and benefits, consumer behaviour traits and all, trying to make the audience melt through my heartwarming, tear-jerking 30-second stories. And not to forget the icing – a maudlin jingle to go along with it. Fifteen days and that many nights ofovertly loving parents, excessively cute kids and dancing neighbours had made me nauseous and sick. This is when the lighting struck – How mush is too mush?

My client was undoubtedly influenced by the unending array of TVCs splashed on our boob tube in recent times, all drenched in a similar tone.

Created by some of the most creative guys of our country’s advertising nexus, these ads seemed to sell everything with a weirdly monotonous voice – the voice of the heart (As my respected client had put it once). From FMCG products to automobiles, from electronics to financial services, even media for that matter of fact, have shared this stand. Every brand appears to have the same anthem, even the same tune. So how do you differentiate? Frankly, I don’t think you can. That day I almost mistook an energy company for a detergent and an AC for a NGO.

Being in a profession that virtually survives on the delicate balance of hyper-emotions and larger than life dreams, I’ve started to wonder that is this all we can do? Is mush our only weapon against the ever-changing conundrum that’s consumer behaviour? Because this wave doesn’t seem to mellow down. Because there seems to be an army of new-age admen and adwomen who seem to be walking the poignant path.

Parents, lovers and kids were always easy prey for the creative mind, but lately there have been additions. Indianism, old couples and underdogs have come up considerably in the chart along with even more kids. Remember a firang airlines making everyone say Namaskar or a Yankee car manufacturer pitching for ‘Karwachauth’? It doesn’t end at that. We seem to keep on repeating clichés and stereotypes over n’ over in every possible form.

For a test, just randomly watch ads for half an hour. What do you see? The ratio is so grave that ‘sentiments’ will win by an avalanche. Approximately eight out of ten ads have a similar storytelling, relative theme and almost same socio-segmentation. Take for example ‘A kid running to the parent’ visual.

It stands for: a soap, an energy drink, few financial services, a car, another car, host of household durables, pharmaceuticals, foods, even a cellular service. Don’t even get me started on the oldies and fat man thingy. So my question still stands – ‘How much?’ One cannot help but think that are we actually pumping in unnecessary emotional justifications for everything we sell? Are our brands and products so flaccid in their practical values that we constantly have to support them with the crèches of sentiments and melodrama?

Norman Douglas once said that ‘you can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements’. I know that we are very sensitive people, but does that mean that we don’t use our grey matter when we spend our monies? I think we do and do it pretty often too. Then why not quit on the feelings front and blow the expediency trumpet that’ll help breed a completely new generation of educated and aware consumers, than a crop of fickle impulsive buyers?

That’ll cause market parity, you say? My answer: Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, it will create a mature market where the brands will have to testify themselves on the basis of realism rather than ‘holier than thou’ grandeur. And as advertising gurus, honchos, gods, trainees, it’s our responsibility to make a nation of conscious audiences who can differentiate needs from desires, truth from hogwash, and look up to the advertising diaspora for knowledge and clarity, not candy coated delusions. Through this and only this can we achieve respect in the hearts of our viewers and win back our creative authority (If you know what I mean).

Well, I’ve written enough and you’ve got better things to do, so I’ll leave you with a happy note that even though the verdict still eludes, I’m working on it.

(The writer is a senior creative director with ab&m Communication. You can write to him at abhishake.das@gmail.com)

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