First of all, these brands of inner-wear have benefited immensely from being discussed in Parliament. The best of brands promoted with the best creative inputs and the best media exposure seldom enter those hallowed portals. These two have.

In the bargain, Lux Cozy and Amul Macho have hogged the limelight of editorial coverage in both the print and television media for sure. They have got a bigger bang for their advertising buck than what any media-planner can afford to get and give. In the years gone by, MR Coffee got the same time of attention with Arbaaz Khan, and more importantly, Malaika Arora coming to the fore on the brand with a piping hot set of sequences of sex, stimulus, steam and coffee, of course, as an incidental.

Having said all of this, I personally do believe these pieces of creatives are not fit for being telecast on a mass medium at large. Don’t get me wrong. I am as liberal as you and everyone else in the big cities of India largely is. I am just a little more sensitive about this issue. Sensitive to the fact that India does not live in its metros. India is much more. Three- fourths of this country lives in its villages. Another three-fifths of the balance 25 per cent of the urban population lives in the Tier 2 towns. Let’s get sensitive to social needs, wants, desires, aspirations and mores of these viewers and consumers who live in Real India.

Why the hullabaloo? Just for this one reason. Real India hates the sexual innuendo thrown at it and its children by the popular and mass media of the day. There is an innocent child audience out there asking questions. There is a bigger child audience as well out there which is not asking questions of its parents, but is nevertheless getting the answers.

I do believe these brands have understood the market wrong, and have gotten carried away by “creative excellence” as a route to the heart and soul of the consumer. The creatives are exciting, and maybe even excellent. But they lack insight.

The key insight to bother about is this. Most of India is not too excited about the Dada Kondke genre of double entendre advertising. The women of Real India are particularly not excited about this, as they have to deal with the ruf fians on the roads who get a bit too carried away by advertising and its exciting creatives.

One more insight to care about. In intimate apparel and undergarment advertising/marketing, it is important to ensure that product endorsement is handled by the same-sex entity. Lingerie must be endorsed by a woman and men’s briefs by a man. The moment the product is endorsed by the opposite sex, as in the case of Amul Macho, one treads the realm of controversy. Crass appeal is a matter of worry then.

What is the biggest change in the Indian consumer at large? Is it overt consumerism? How is the marketer approaching this change?

- Roopa Mehrotra, Kolkata

Roopa, the Indian consumer has changed dramatically. She has become very outdoor- oriented, for a start. In addition to this, from being the savings-oriented person she was, she now spends more. Eating out and the market for narcissism is big. Spending on brands, rather than commodities, has perked up. Between brand and commodity, the scales are now tilting in favour of brand spends.