The Hindu Business Line : Kiss and tell

A MAN and woman kissing in the boot of the car, a couple kissing through its window. Skoda Octavia in its recent TV commercial has tried to drive its core proposition of `passion to build cars' through a series of such intimate scenes. Chevrolet Optra also `celebrates life' in its recent TVC with a passionate kissing scene.

For long taboo even on the silver screen, actors kissing on-screen in Bollywood movies is de rigueur today. However, advertising till recently kept shy of the kiss. Ads stuck to laughter, surprise, warm fuzzy feelings and other emotions to convey the brand message, but times are a changing. Is Indian advertising becoming bolder?

Insists Mukesh Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, iB&W (the agency responsible for the Skoda campaign), "An ad showing a couple pecking is not necessarily vulgar."

Gupta says the Skoda film is about love and has tried to bring to the forefront the brand's core proposition of passion and obsession to build cars. "To bring the brand promise alive, one has to show the physical imagery and presentation of love. Kissing is just one of the ways. It didn't come from any sexual innuendos and was just a spontaneous expression."

"As an agency, we are most concerned about Skoda's brand persona. A certain sense of dignity needs to be maintained and we have tried to stay within the framework of niceness," he adds.

Gupta claims the response to the TVC has been phenomenal and has helped step up sales. "By showing a couple kissing in the boot of the car, we have also been able to get the target audience to connect with the kind of space the car offers. We have tried to convey that that the car enables two adults to comfortably lie down in the car."

Varun Arora, Executive Creative Director, Enterprise Nexus (the agency working on the Optra account), says if kissing is done in real life why can't it be done in ad films. "The Optra commercial is about a couple celebrating the joy of buying a new car; therefore, kissing came naturally. And, as of now, we have not come across any interest group or couples who have not bought the car just because the commercial shows kissing. We have been tasteful in whatever we have shown."

In fact, both Gupta and Arora wonder why only advertising is being questioned on the grounds of morality when Bollywood shows much more suggestive scenes. "Many of the scenes are highly suggestive," says Gupta. "I think Satyam Shivam Sundaram is far more suggestive than any advertisement," adds Arora.

What does the industry feel?

"Why should advertising be a Mahatma when films are allowed to do all kinds of things? Why is advertising being made equivalent to moral science?" demands Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather.

Similarly, Prathap Suthan, National Creative Director, Grey Worldwide, says Indian commercials have come of age. "If advertising is one of the true mirrors of society, then let them kiss away to glory. These aren't the wet, `drooly' French kisses. Just innocent pecks on the lips. The fact is that all of us have grown up a bit in life to accept that couples kiss in real life."

"Look at the music videos and the item numbers and all the gore and rape and violence that we see in real life, in the newspapers and in our movies and serials. If that is permissive and allowed, a harmless kiss between a couple (in the privacy of their space) is as innocent as a kid chasing a butterfly," he adds.

On the other hand, Pandey of O&M says kissing in a TVC is acceptable provided it is essential and relevant to the brand's core proposition. He does not think so of those scenes in the Skoda TVC. "The campaign is quite harmless and irrelevant," he says.

Josy Paul, Country Manager and National Creative Director, David, says any element of suggestiveness in an ad campaign is acceptable as long as it is done in a charming way that makes people laugh or cry. "The story also has to be relevant to the brand promise, only then you have the licence to be permissive."

"Passion is not about kissing. By showing kissing scenes in the Skoda film, the agency has drifted away from the brand's passion for perfection. It is like if you don't have an idea, start kissing."

How does one define permissiveness?

"You can't define permissiveness. It would vary from person to person," says Tarun Rai, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, JWT. "Societies change and so do the boundaries of permissiveness. Bollywood is a good reflection of this change. While kissing scenes in movies have been seen now for the past couple of years — including 17 in one movie — the protagonists were newcomers and fringe actors. Today, however, mainstream stars are kissing on screen and to me that is a significant indicator of how the boundaries are expanding."

Suthan of Grey says, "Anything that is vulgar or promotes vulgarity, or anything that is foul or causes physical harm or is overtly sexual, according to me, is a no-no."

Rai, however, cautions agencies not to create risqué advertising just to break clutter. "We should push the boundaries only if it is required, depending on the kind of brand positioning and the target audience the brand wants to address."

On whether a particular commercial is objectionable or not, Rai says, "Any advertisement that doesn't deliver is objectionable. Therefore, it is important to find out whether the consumers of these products found the commercials objectionable."

The entire advertising fraternity feels that the Indian consumers are definitely more open-minded now and willing to consume a certain degree of permissiveness. And Bollywood is the proof of it. "However, the Indian advertising industry will always be within the limits of dignity and will never cross the line," assures Arora of Enterprise Nexus.

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