Wednesday, November 15, 2006

What do you feel about this ad?


In recent times, probably in the past 5-7 years, the concept of Indian and Indian-ness has faced a big boom in marketing, promotions, music, Hollywood films and most importantly, in advertising. We have seen ads before, like this one which uses an Indian goddess, who many people around the world pray to and worship. How much of an effect does this have on the Indian culture, in the eyes of the rest of the world? For a person who is new to the culture, what understanding would they derive, if they happened to come across an ad like this?

What do you feel about this ad? Apart from the fact that it is definitely a smart idea, how much of an effect do you think it has on the Indian culture and more importantly, the Hindu religion?

Credits:
Agency: JWT Paris, France
Art Director: Giovanni Settesoldi
Copy: Luissandro DelGobbo

11 comments:

blacklion said...

this is very fucking and bullshit ad.what if take jisus in the condoms ad what they people will feel...???there could many other ideas also and to use this type of concept in ad then it could be quite controversial....

You will(Who made this ad)fuck yourself...dont even try to publish it india.

One Hindu from INDIA...

philos said...

Hi, Arvind.
I read carefully your post and your concerns have to be taken seriously from people all over the world.
I agree with you that people who don't know a lot about the indian culture and religions, like me for example, they might get wrong conclusions.
Furthermore, I think that this ad is not so smart, but silly and in no way it impressed me positive as a consumer, in order to buy the product.
I think it was a bad moment for the ad agency and I believe strongly that it won't have a good influence in the french market.
Best Regards from Greece!

. r o s s . said...

This reminds me of a story where a very popular gay magazine here in Australia called DNA Magazine offended Hindu's by featuring male fitness star Matt Walch wearing a Roberto Cavalli brief that is screen printed with an image of the Hindu goddess Laxmi on the cover.

A said...

I don't think anyone should be insulting any religion, whether hinduism or islam or christianity. This kind of advertising is insulting to all the efforts towards a tolerant society. It was a mistake to insult Islam by drawing pictures of the prophet and it is a bigger mistake to resort to such cheap gimmicks in the advertising world.

Hungry For Life said...

Critising it, is a way to advertise it!
Seriously, I felt angry when coca cola advertised the product, with a bottle imitating Parthenon..

Unknown said...

I have agree that it is creative and bit humorous too.

But few people can be offended by the image and I am not the one in them.

Unknown said...

I think, puting humorous ad into religion,ethnic, or racial isue isn't good idea.
It's quite difficult to accept this concept to promote a product by contemptuous some other people.

sanjay jha said...

nameste
idea is creative untill its not on the cost of anyone's sentiments,and it needs open minds to understand.
recently i made a film and used a poem by a national poet and later i discovered it offended saadhu's of allahabad...

http://stringsmovie.blogspot.com/

a piece of litrature from public domain can also stir the 'faith'...
god to be known right
chers
jhaji.

Aladdin said...

Ah! Thos two poor creatives from JWT France. They dn't even know that they could be denied a Visa to India someday. Idea Sucks. God's Illustrations done to death. I love the one by Mudra for Big Bazaar 'Sale for Women' where all the goddesses are missing from the frame. Anyways. Lets Move on.

Varun said...

IDEA SUCKS.
Ad should be scraped.
We (INDIAN) would never accept something like this.

Unknown said...

im not offended by it, but i'm not hindu so i can afford the humor. but the bottom line is, one of the key points to a great ad is to avoid alienating a significant percent of your target audience. not smart guys.