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Addendum is a weekly column that takes a sometimes hard, sometimes casual, sometimes irreverent, yet never malicious look at some of the new or recent advertisements and comments on them.

I remember a graceful period in time when, as a child, I had this colourful tin box with a little aperture to put coins in — a savings box or a “piggy bank”. I would eagerly collect any coins I could scrounge and carefully put them into this box. And once a month this friendly man from Syndicate Bank would come home and open the back of the box with a key. I would stare at him fascinated as he counted the coins, helped me fill out a savings bank slip and updated my pass book. I grew up, things changed, technology ruled supreme. Bankers worried only about large accounts even if the loans taken were not repaid and my son missed that entire experience while he grew up, hearing only about credit cards and a consumption- driven economy.

I watched with joy as Kotak Mahindra Bank helped me not just relive my childhood but also marvel at the cute little girl whose expressions and voice (if it were hers) really make for a very nice little film. If the benefits of savings are being introduced to little children once more (and I loved the modern-day innovation of the plastic “junior card”) I am filled with hope for the future. Two thumbs-up for the Kotak Mahindra Bank film! Now, what about getting Subbu back?

Much ado about interruptions

Videocon d2h, Lowe Lintas partners and Parineeti Chopra feel that old Indian values can be characterised by the rare ability to take interruptions in private moments in our stride. So there’s this young couple who raise their feet in a restaurant for the cleaner to clean underneath as they continue looking into each other’s eyes, offer directions to the guy knocking on their car’s window just when they were steaming them up inside or pass the popcorn between random people while trying to snuggle up in a movie theatre.

The second premise this commercial makes is that these same patient, tolerant Indians do not take kindly to interruptions in their television viewing. And thus the solution, Videocon d2h at just ₹1 a month that allows you to enjoy interruptions while watching TV because all you need to do is record the show and view it again. And to tell you this they have hired Parineeti Chopra. Not because she is an expert in the viewing habits of Indians, just because she is the flavour of the day. As long as you are that long-suffering Indian who takes every interruption in your stride, except when your football game or tear-jerking soap is playing, you will nod sagely, accept the presumptions and hit the pause button to record your show. Me, I don’t take kindly to most interruptions. And the youngsters I see are even more edgy than I am. So we’ll just ignore this gyan .

Not quite Gondappa

Lowe Lintas Phd has created another magnum opus of over three minutes for Lifebuoy soaps. The effort could be summed up as “once more with feeling”. You have a long-format film once more and a story rooted in Indonesian lore where a family marks a tree when a child is born and cares for it as the child itself. Young girl Utari is the central figure who is always looking after the tree. Finally, you realise her brother is no more and all she has left is the tree. We are told in the film that Unilever is taking its message of good health to Bitobe in Indonesia where thousands of children do not reach the age of five because of diarrhoea. We are touched that Lifebuoy is making this a mission. We watched the film with great interest mainly because it succeeds the classic Gondappa film extolled in this column. This film has big shoes to fill. And it just does not make the cut. Many months ago we had written that Gondappa would win all the awards. A couple of weeks ago we reminded our readers that our prediction had come true. We are making no such prediction for this film. What a pity! I guess twice in a row would have been a lot to expect. Maybe we were expecting too much. Whatever be the reason, this time it was once more, without feeling.

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Send your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in

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