Monday, July 31, 2006

Peddling for fools

What is happening with Radio advertising these days? Consider this IDBI ad I heard today.

Voice over (VO): Sir, what number do you like?
Punjabi Accent: No 9
VO: Sir, what number do you like?
Tamil accent: Aiyyo No 9
And more crap…and finally
VO: Everybody likes No 9 because now IDBI gives you loans at 9% interest


Consider another gem:

Woman 1: XYZ bought jewelry from Ddamas for her wedding
Woman 2: Really??? And where are they going for the honeymoon?
Woman 1: Her hubby wants to go to Timbuktoo but XYZ wants to go to D’damas
*Indulgent laughter from the ladies*

And they call it ‘jewelery for the living”??? It’s more like jewelery for the (brain)dead.

Do these ad makers or the marketing team that approves of these ads really think that we the listeners are that dumb? God, this is an insult to my intelligence and makes me mad. In one fell swoop you are condemning all Bangaloreans as morons.

This is the crap that I get to hear in the car everyday to the office. Nowadays we preempt the ad with our own words and giggle our way to work. Quite a change from the sleepy silence that used to hang like a blanket inside the car. In the process we have all become good friends and have forged a common bond as the car pool fraternity.

Now if that was the intention of the ad maker in the first place then he has succeeded. These atrocious jingles, though an absolute personal attack on your intelligence, grab your attention due to its ludicrousness.

But if I am going to apply for a loan in the near future then I will make sure that I give IDBI the skip, because I don’t want their marketing team to think that the ad has bought them revenues and go ahead and make more such brainsick jingles. And neither am I shopping at D’damas, because they have insulted me and the entire female populace of Bangalore.

10 comments:

DD said...

Reminds me of a bank commercial on radio shity which starred a guy with a very thick "mallu accent"...the ad was so pathetic i dont even rem what it was about! One of the most irritating ones I've ever heard

Anonymous said...

Silverine, I invite you over to Singapore to see the local TV ads here... U will realize that Indian ad companies are far better than this developed country's ad companies... After an year here, when I went home for vacation, I was, for once, relishing the Indian TV ads!!! Though, I think I will be unable to say the same about the ads in the radio!!

Unnikrishnan G Nair

Mind Curry said...

lol..that was hilarious..your reactions i mean..yeah those radio-ads really drive you nuts at times. similar to the cinema ads! gosh! and they make it a point to play it twice for some reason!

you could still take the IDBI loan if they give it for less than 9%?

i like the ddamas tv ad though.

mathew said...

bangaloreans have a obsession with radio..And for a outsider like me found it strange to see a good percentage of people going to office with those dangling ear phones..

neways u have to beat hosur road traffic and listen to these kinda ads..deadly!!!.."lucky you!!" ;)

silverine said...

Deepak: Radio Shitty it is!!! Especially when it comes to ads and now Radio Mirchi too...90% of the jingles are written by retards and the mentally challenged.

UGN: I am talking of the ads airing on FM Radio stations here. What you read here was just the tip of the iceberg. I agree TV Commercials are quite good in India.

MC: Even I like the D'damas TV commercial :) But their radio ad is pathetic and portrays women as frivolous brainless creatures.

Alexis: We have three FM stations here and these ads are aired on these stations :)

Mathew: It's a great when you have to sit out traffic jams, but then one cannot avoid the ads. Some are good actually, but the bad ones are really bad!!!

silverine said...

Aashik: These are the FM Radio station ads I was talking about :)

silverine said...

Well I was talking about FM Radio ads in particular :P
:))
The Mentos ad is a 'class' act but the chlor mint ad has higher recall value due to the 'dobara math poochna' tagline.

venus said...

What Unni has said, is very true, the tv commercials in India are far better than in USA also!

silverine said...

Venus: That's surprising!!

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