TV Commercials and Relationships: Appealing Ads

This summer (2015) while watching the Idiot Box, certain advertisements caught my attention and appealed to my heart. The first was the advertisement of Mother's Day of Tanishq featuring Deepika Padukone with her mom Ujjwala Padukone. Deepika is shownn trying on different ornaments in the Tanishq showroom and then she returns home. The mother is laying the table and seems a little put off. Deepika is shown muttering to herself about how even in spite of being a celebrity, she can not leave any food on her plate and how her mother scolds her on reaching home late. Her mother wants her to arrange and tidy up her bedroom first thing in the morning. She can not stand it even if a single light remains on in her daughter's room (a true disciplinarian). In these 28 years of togetherness, she has never thanked her mother for being with her. She looks gorgeous and dazzling in white. She gifts a beautiful necklace to her mother who too again is in white. The daughter puts the necklace round her mother's neck and hugs her with moist eyes. The expressions and body language convey something about their bond which is beyond words. This bond is as precious and adorable as the Tanishq jwellery is and both the bonds, that of the mother daughter duo, and a woman's love for ornaments, are priceless and treasurable. The piece of jwellery is as pure as the love of a mother for whom the daughter would always be a little one. A daughter, is a daughter, first and foremost, even if she is a celebrity. The ad beautifully encapsulates their relationship as " timeless" and adds further," Somethings never change with time." The situations depicted are a daily occurrence in most of the families and experienced by everyone and hence immensely identifiable. These odd every day incidents are instrumental in moulding a persona and how well it has been projected in Deepika's monologue, "Socha tha famous hone ka kuchh to fayda hoga." The mother treats her daughter as an ordinary girl. The mother has kept the daughter rooted to her values. Christina Perry's “A Thousand Years” has been employed as the background score and enhances effectively the emotional appeal of the advertisement. The song declares, " I have loved you for a thousand years/ I 'll love you for a thousand more." I love the soulful song-

How can I love when I’m afraid to fall

But watching you stand alone

All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow...
Now another hair oil commercial featuring Alisha Bhat and her mother Soni Razdaan is being telecast. Yet it lacks the magic and emotional appeal of the Deepika -Tanishq commercial.

Usually, I don't like soft drink ads and soft drinks too. Given a choice, I would not recommend them as well from the point of view of language or Sociology. These ads are endorsed by celebrities most of the times to attract masses and lure them. This summer's Coke ad appealed to me for its depiction of relationships. The ad features Siddartha Malhotra and Alia Bhatt as newly weds. The couple is not yet very close and maintain distance and quietness while travelling in a car. Alisha as a bride is still in her bridal red. The groom turned husband, still in his sherwani and red pagree, tells her that she can tell him about anything that she wants and likes. She demurely tells that she loves the taste of Coke. The car halts and the  'new' hubby gives her a bottle of Coke and she offers it to him. He is taken aback and says that she had said that she liked it. She coyly says that she likes him too. So he first takes a sip and then gives it to her. The ice is broken. The way in which this delicate relationship has been projected makes the ad more appealing and human. The couple looks adorable and Alia is the perfect coy, shy bride, trying to overcome her inhibitions.

 One more advertisement that focuses on human relationships is that of Tata Salt Lite. father and his little daughter are on the dining table eating together. The father is coaxing his daughter to share at least one bite from her plate with him. The daughter firmly says no to him. The father then tries to cajole her by offering/ bribing her with an evening out. The daughter firmly says no and calls her mother. The mother then offers the same delicacies to the husband by using Tata Salt lite instead of depriving him. The entire family is happy and contented. Health and happiness are topmost priorities in any family and no compromise can be made with it at any cost. The husband and wife relationship and its changing facets are depicted in yet another commercial ad. The girl Iliana has to shift to London for her work and is concerned about the reaction of her beloved and how he would take it or react to it. The husband after listening to her remains silent for sometime. This pause is a pregnant pause and then declares that he too has been hunting for new headquarters and does not mind shifting it to London. Of course, the sweet lingering fragrance of the talc has been the motivating factor for him. This seems a little unbelievable but the very fact that a man is ready to shift with his wife willingly to promote her career is amazing and perhaps will be instrumental in changing male psyche in patriarchal India where a woman's decision, economic independence, and career have always taken a back seat.

Watched Wahida Rehman Cadbury Ad? The family has just finished dinner. Wahida is the granny in the family. The dessert dish is kept at the center of the dining table. There are  pieces or cubes of Cadbury in the plate. One small last piece remains in the dish. The father says he should have it as he has worked the entire day and the child wants it as he has studied for the whole day. The granny, sitting quietly, opens her mouth and says that she does not know for how long she would live. The atmosphere becomes a little serious and everyone is distracted. The granny, with a twinkle in her eyes and a naughty smile, like a precocious child, grabs and eats the last piece.
The 'Wish' advertisement of Flipkart is an amazing advertisement based on human relationships. It ushers in a chain reaction and the relationships unfold in an excellent manner. The advertisement of Dalmiya Cement is also very touching. The first time I viewed it I remembered Sudha Murthy's quotation from Gently Calls the Bakula that a house is a structure and home is a place of feelings and relationships. We see a father and a son talking to each other outside their home. The son points out that he would shift some where else as the existing house is now small and due to the size of the family, all members could not live in comfortably. The father suggests that instead of shifting somewhere else, he should demolish the old house and construct a new one. The son is taken aback and says the home is the legacy of his grandfather and the father would not be able stand it. The father's reply is just heart touching. He says that he would be destroying the structure and not the home. He adds that if he shifts elsewhere he would be destroying the home. He is ready to grant permission on the condition that Dalmia Cement should be used for the purpose of construction.

In this article, I have enlisted some advertisement commercials close to my heart. I think advertisements make us aware not only of a particular product or brand  but also of culture, traditions, human relationships and language. I will discuss few more ads in my next write up.