Thursday 28 February 2013

Friendship....are they serious!!!


What do you think of this advertisement?

It portrays the notion of friendship with a background score of eternal friendship song of bollywood. But, somehow, I disliked it a lot. I might be labeled as ‘living fossil’ but I strongly disagree with the subtle message circulated in the garb of an advertisement meant for promoting sale of Sedan class cars.
Are they trying to say that if only you belong to some affluent family or your dad owns a luxury vehicle, you can have bunch of friends.  I am not sure how a kid of present generation of 6 – 16 yrs would perceive this clip but it stealthily tries to distort the notion of friendship for sure. The kids actually behave like some ‘yes men’ who sport fake smile while sharing their belongings or helping each other with an ulterior motive of getting a ride in the big sedan by the end of the day.

Is it not the first glimpse of that class who would grow up into ‘Janta nahin mera baap kaun hai!’(Don't you know...who is my daddy!!) breed? I feel agitated with this kind of media promotion because I believe that media does pla!y a strong role in our lives .It has some impact or other on the mind of its viewers however the degree of impact depends on the IQ, EQ and maturity level of the person.

Earlier also when I wrote aboutthis advertisement with so called new age ’cool’ lingo and posted it in my FB page, many people( some of them were parents!) termed me as too sensitive and over-reactive. But somehow, I just do not feel comfortable while watching this kind of stuff. Might be I am turning into a ‘living fossil’ in real sense!

16 comments:

  1. Hi Nivedita,
    first time here..
    While I did find the ad cute, there are uncomfortable aspects to it like a bespectacled nerd being befriended only because he has a luxury car and the so-called friends are desirous of a ride..
    I agree with you about the underlying meaning some ads convey. Whether the ad-makers do it knowingly or unknowingly, it's debatable.

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    1. Hey welcome here :)
      No doubt the ad is cute but I feel ad makers play with people's mind deliberately.

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  2. True indeed, friendship is far beyond sedan cars and rolling in wealth. This might give wrong ideas in the kids' mind.

    In my opinion, the ad makers just concentrate on the marketing part of it and hence the values part gets marred due to ignorance. Ad-makers must pay more attention to detail.

    Until later,
    Keirthana :)

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    1. Oh yeah..when has friendship started seeking refuge of rolling wealth? I feel ad makers do it deliberately.

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  3. Its such subconscious meanings that we don't pay attention right now but these do leave impact on kids .. I agree that ad makers and all elders should be more responsible.

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    1. Media has its responsibility towards society and they cannot shy away from that.

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  4. I have very similar feelings every time I see this ad. And Phew! I'm glad to know I was not the only one, was beginning to wonder if I'm just super skeptical :).

    To me, it was like what starts as a nice portrayal of friendship all ends in "Che, they did all that as they wanted a ride in the car?!".

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    1. No we are not super skeptical. Anything involving kids not appearing right irks me too much.

      And Welcome here :)

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  5. totally agree with u.. i rather rembr the maruti ad where the kid calls in everyone.. hope u rembr that one :) that was so sweet and nice and meaningful and did sell the product too..
    this ad is jus so crass :(

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    1. Ohh yeah...even i do remember that sweet ad :)

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  6. I agree with you - ads today are more of representation of mindsets that are prevalent (how predominant these mindsets are, we couldn't say). Its just like your fairness cream ads that tout fairness to get a good husband, hair oil to get your child the lead role in the school play and the god awful ad of yanking laddoos out of children's mouths for having scored better marks thanks to being enrolled in a particular coaching center... its like we have no confidence in our own personalities and abilities and these ads try to

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    1. Ohh God....you picked up so correct irksome examples. These ad makers thinks their audience moron or what!!

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  7. Of course Ad makers do it deliberately. And I do think our kids today have a lot of media influence on crutches to bolster their self confidence. As parents, we have a LOT more to do, and that means being on the guard ALL the time.

    As such this ad did not affect me as much as some of the other ads that Ruth has mentioned. Esp the meritnation ad. Bah.

    Meera

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    1. Correct...as parents we have lot more to do.

      Yeah that meritnation ad is so weird..Gah!!

      And welcome here :)

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  8. Nice one! I had written a similar post some time back, after watching this ad: Here is my take: http://narayanikarthik.blogspot.in/2012/11/advertisements-media-and-ethos-media.html

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