Just like me, you must have watched the cute boy on TV commercial polishing his grandpa's shoes, when he is about to go out. But what is worth observing is, he brushes the black shoe polish more on his white tee shirt and light colored half pant and even on his face more than his grandpa’s shoes. Quite interestingly, his mom does not even scold him for messing his fresh dress like that. But should this surprise you ? because she is the TV commercial mom, who is selling you - all the moms in the world who has clumsy yet adorable children like hers - detergent power, who wants to help grandpa to polish shoes.
Before that advert, there was a boy, who falls more on the wet muddy ground, while playing football than he hits the ball to play. Again, his TV mom does not lose her cool, because she too is detergent powder selling mom.
Both TV commercial is Unilever product, advertising to sell its Surf brand. It seems they are teaching children to get dirty in subtle way, that even a smart watchdog can't do anything after it gets aired on TV. Therefore, they can keep selling mums their detergent powders, who have responsibilities to keep their children’s dress clean all the time. That's why they keep sending message to mass that, dirt or stain is good.
I find Unilever's advertisement a little more provoking to my conscience, but I know this, its only to my sharp observation; because its their biggest strength and they do hire biggest advertising company to sell their products, who are well aware of the loopholes of the trend and know very well the weakness or strength of watchdogs as well as the buyers behavior.
If you pay close attention to their Fair & Lovely cream ads, it injects inferiority complex to brown colored girl like me. Its the bad luck to the corporate giant that, my weakness is not inferiority complex, at least not based on the color I am born with. I know that its not a disease and it sure can't be cured just because a multinational company like Unilever wants me to sell their fairness cream. They make the advertisements, showing fairer girls getting every imaginable success like a good career, a date with a dream boy or a good man to marry. We will be denied of all those things, if we don't use their cream, which is secured only to those who have fair complex. Now, even their Vaseline healthy white is promising dusky brown colored Indian girls [women] to give them fairer skin instantly, that can happen only in imaginary world, but they are claiming it on broad daylight TV across the world, because they can do it.
To sell their body deodorant Axe, they are even showing women going crazy after good smelling men. Tell me which man doesn't want woman to go crazy, when they pass by them ? they are shown grabbing the butt of man, it would have offended if its man grabbing butt of woman but because she is the one who is grabbing his butt so watchdog must have got confused here what to do with this kind of advertisements. I am also hoping, you do remember the chocolate man, whom every hot and sexy babes wanted to take a bite from the place only a man can imagine, in his wildest dream. Oh, let me tell you he was converted into a dark chocolate after spraying axe, the dark temptation over his body, another product from Unilever.
Its not that, thousands of other companies are not advertising. They too have pressure to sell their product[s] to us. Then why Unilever feels most pressured to sell their brands like no other ? Fine, it has more products to sell than any other companies and due to its vast range it has competitors, which happens to be almost every other company in the market but its biggest rival is P & G for shampoo and face creams, that's why compared to other company its adverts has to have beep word in their ads, or has to show girls travelling trains and getting dust covered on their face, so that they need Lakme face wash, to wash their face, another brand of Unilever.
Colgate is its other rival company when it comes to toothpaste and its advertisement seems so obvious that, how frustrated it is, for not being able to beat its rival company. It really amaze me to watch that, Colgate still maintains the dignified rivalry with more convincing yet not much desperate ads to keep its number one position in its own area. In 2003 or 2004, Unilever had spend about 8 corod only to make the TV commercial on its closeup brands. This price does not include on how much they spent on playing that ad on TV or other mediums. Interestingly, I used to sing its catchy song, while I brushed my teeth with Colgate.
As if airbrushed ,exaggerated promise and lower price is not enough, Unilever also gives many freebies to sell its pepsodent and towel to sell its shampoo brands and many other products. I still have the towel with me but decided not to use its product, as its products did not proved any better than the brand I was using before.
Lifebuoy always seem to be competing with Dettol soap on low range of soap to cater its huge middle class Indians or developing country like mine. Have you noticed, lifebuoy is trying to make us germ freaks in its ads. However, I avoid both products for making me scared of the germs that may not exist in real life, except in their ads.
They are also teaching girls to smear dirt on each others face - on the ad its the dark chocolate cake - so that they can sell their face wash faster than it actually moves. Its again Ponds face wash TV ads, another Unilever product.
My common sense tell me not to use Unilever brands, that’s why I avoid it to the max due to its overly airbrushed and high delivery of promise. However, huge middle class people do fall on easy traps of its net, it spread over them, which they injecting them through their ads like false pride, confidence and air brushed advert. Good packaging and good advertisement its huge strength too which makes it one of the biggest multinational company which sells its potential consumer almost everything and if not that, they even feed the greed of the public like recently Fair & lovely is running an ad to give 5 corod to anyone whose expensive face cream is any better than theirs.
Feed the greed, to greed of public or infuse the confidence to the mass which they lack grossly in real life is what their advertisement is doing mainly. They are selling anything, from toilet cleaner to tea, toothpaste to ice cream, making huge population hard to resist. But if you pay close attention then you will realize that, they are selling advertisements to its consumer than its products.
About six months before Kajol came on TV doing its Rin Brand commercial, challenging middle class housewives to use the detergent bar. What I could not help but notice is it was Kajol who seem to be Rin washed than the white dhoti she was wearing. Did you missed that ?
A couple of years ago adverts of Domex, toilet cleaner annoyed me to the max specially, when I sat down to eat my meal in front of TV. They were using all kinds of germs in toilet which I was never ever aware of its existence, to scare me to use their brand of toilet cleaner. Interestingly, despite pumping huge advertising budget to take the bigger pie of the existing brand, which is Harpic, they just could not buzz a bit to its rival product from Market, as Harpic still promotes its brand on its biggest strength to sell product not story as unilever's domex did. Now a days I can't even see its ads in the market, which may mean, they may not be producing and selling it anymore. I know this for sure, corporate giants like Unilever can't take risk not to advertise the product that is FMCG [ fast moving consumers goods] used on daily basis in every households.
Other companies product advertisements do meet what they commit on their commercials, but Unilever sells more of an ad than a promise its product can bring us. It seems to me that they have the arrogant attitude of being a giant and a presumption they can sell us anything. and they are right also they are selling anything I mean they really have been quite successful in selling their ads to us, otherwise who do you think made them corporate giant like that ?
This article has already been published in nepaliadvocate.com
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