Just a finger is all you need to burst the Modi bubble: INC’s new ad

The latest ad from the Indian National Congress (INC) builds up to how a simple action can burst the biggest of bubbles.

Exhausted from seeing Prime Minister Modi’s face on newspaper ads, on the packs on every imaginable branded product, on food items, at public toilets, and on being stuck in a traffic jam because the prime minister is inaugurating a used road – Amit Sadharan (ordinary) has nearly given up. 

And let’s not miss Gautam Adani’s photograph used as leverage to make Mr Sadharan choose a particular company for a tender despite its unworthiness. 

Disturbed by now, he and his wife are afraid and worried when they see their son standing in front of an expanding balloon with the prime minister’s face on it – the Modi bubble from the INC – only for the son to burst it using his finger. 

A simple act and yet the most effective way to choose a new political leadership is what the INC tries to tell viewers in the ad, and that they should not let the Modi balloon (bubble) expand. 

Nearly two and a half minutes long, it is the latest work in the ad wars the INC and BJP were part of before and during the Lok Sabha elections that started on April 19, 2024, and will end on June 1, 2024. 

News reports state Omnicom-owned DDB Mudra is the advertising agency INC picked for its Lok Sabha campaigns, and the BJP has tapped IPG-owned McCann Worldgroup, and Scarecrow M&C Saatchi to create work for its election campaigns. 

Both political parties have taken potshots at each other in their ads. A recent BJP ad mimicked the reality show Shark Tank where caricatures of INC and its alliance members pitched their political agendas to the sharks who too were caricatures of the show's actual judges. 

The BJP has taken a liking to caricatures because one of its earliest ads spoofed the I.N.D.I.A. alliance members during an arranged marriage set-up. 

INC, on the other hand, has focused on the failures of the BJP and how it has used public authorities to get its way when pushed to a corner. 

Data from Google Ads Transparency Centre revealed, between April 1, 2024, and April 26, 2024, INC spent Rs 18 crore on Google ad campaigns and the BJP invested Rs 14 crore during the same period. 

The Election Commission of India will declare the Lok Sabha results on June 4, 2024.