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 love watching the telecast of the World Cup cricket. You get to see some great advertising! With data becoming a great contributor to the stressed revenues of telecom companies you will see more advertising aimed at data rather than voice services. And so you have this young, very pregnant lady looking at a senior co-worker who is cleaning out his office cubicle and enquiring whether he was moving to a new work space. The gent replies that he is packing up as he is retiring that day. It is his last day at work. The young lady does what most young people do these days. She takes a selfie of the gent with her. And then quickly shares it with a colleague with a note saying that it is the gent’s last day.

And then in typical fashion you see young nimble fingers working their smartphones effortlessly, passing the picture and message around. The news spreads like wildfire. As the forlorn-looking senior citizen walks down the stairs he sees this large group of co-workers gathered outside with flowers, and as they break into an impromptu gig, you find that Vodafone has really set up a tear-jerking situation from almost nothing. That is the power of good communication. A very simple, though good, idea that is crafted into a powerful situation you will remember. Hopefully, when you order a data plan.

Positivity unbound

Friend Krishna Warrier had sent me the link to the Lux commercial some time ago. I got around to seeing it just now. You have the lovely Katrina Kaif at a photo shoot. You hear the voice of someone who is clearly not a professional voice-over artist speaking about beauty and what it means to him. Meanwhile, you see the photographer doing what he would always do at a typical photo shoot. He asks Katrina to face the light and things like that. You wonder why he is shooting atypically from below the neck level. Then you put it down to the whims of a fancy photographer. And as the shoot ends his voice-over that has been talking all this time about beauty says that when you feel good that feeling can be noticed by anyone, even by me. And you notice for the first time that he is blind.

Lux fragrances couldn’t have had a better photographer than Bhavesh who in real life has been blind from birth. And the mind is absolutely staggered. Of all the professions, a person who is blind from birth chooses photography where you treat the lens as an extension of your eye, and become an expert. This is a classic true story of the power to dream big and go on to achieve your dreams. Of courage and positivity in the face of mind-numbing adversity. Of hope and triumph and the endless possibilities of the indomitable human spirit. It is also a rare study into the lives of those living with physical disabilities. And a wonderful message from Lux. Advertising has rarely smelt so sweet.

Fitness first

The World Cup telecast has an interesting TVC for Reebok starring MS Dhoni. He exhorts the audience to give him one hour of their day and as the visuals show him hard at work exercising in a multitude of ways, he says that all a person needs to stay fit is one hour of exercise in any form. The film ends with the Reebok branding. Very interesting because rather that advertise any particular product, Reebok has claimed ownership of the entire fitness space.

Vox Pop : Sunil Chiplunkar from Bengaluru writes in to say that this column needs to review some of the work the pharmaceutical industry is doing. Sorry if any particular industry is feeling left out. Sunil, feel free to send us some work you feel is worthy of review. And thanks for the many kind words.

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

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