Dabur’s preventive take on Delhi's pollution crisis

For most people, Diwali is the festival of lights. But Indians have taken it a step further, celebrating with loud firecrackers that pollute the environment with thick smoke among other inconveniences. A study after Diwali showed a drop in air quality and a public health crisis has been declared in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR). Dabur saw this as an opportunity to encourage the use of their immunity boosting product and published a full page ad in the Times of India for Dabur’s Chayawanprash.

NDTV reports that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi has crossed the 500 mark, entering the “emergency” territory for the first time since January. This forced the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) to declare a public health emergency in the national capital. Last year, Dabur released the below TVC, which was clearly targeted at mothers, in a bid to draw attention to how the product can help parents improve their child's immunity.

A report by the Economic Times states that in the chyawanprash category, Dabur’s share, which had slipped to 58 per cent in 2016, has returned to over 60 per cent now. In recent times, Dabur has worked with Bollywood actress Kajol Devgn to create a TVC that works on the same premise — of attempting to appeal to mothers who are concerned with 'doubling' their child's immunity.

Neeraj Bassi, chief strategy officer at Publicis India calls the brand's efforts an 'interesting' attempt and a conventional take on moment marketing. “Dabur Chyawanprash has been promoting immunity for some time now, and they saw an opportunity to use the context of pollution in Delhi to bring focus to their proposition. The link between pollution levels, immunity and chayawanprash may not be a strong one, but it is contextual and thus an opportunity to join an ongoing conversation,” he opines.

Bassi mentioned that the only surprise in this case is the choice of medium. “Given the cost of a print ad, is it the right medium for a contextual message? This ad may seem a bit out of place in the print medium. Perhaps digital would have been a better medium to engage with the audience..." he signs off.