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.

This 30-second commercial has a bunch of street-cast girls. Real girls, not models. And the spontaneity and freshness certainly shows. DDB Mudra’s film adapts what is said to be a worldwide effort to get young girls to be confident and show the “real me”, not a hesitant, diffident girl who is the butt of nicknames based on probably oily skin or pimples. Very noble guys. I bow to you all. And then the advertisement shows them after they wash their oily faces with Clean & Clear and then they confidently show you the ‘real them”. One girl cutely says, “Pretty me!” OK, I can understand this is an ad for something that clears oily skin, etc, but why the cloak of nobility, guys? It’s just another ad like a hundred others we’ve seen where a product makes a girl feel better. No, don’t get me wrong. I’m not taking on the entire segment. I’m just objecting to the sanctimonious note accompanying the ad. The ad works for its client. The tone of caring doesn’t.

Fried but healthy!

Tasty fried food is a no-brainer. Just deep-fry almost anything and it manages to taste good. Healthy fried food. That’s the oxymoron. And if Philips and O&M are right, you could actually have tasty, healthy fried food. A delightful little commercial shows a young couple relaxing and the young man offers to make some aloo tikkis (bless his unique soul). Unable to find the usual can of oil, he calls out for help. The young wife helpfully indicates the oil is in the “second shelf”. Still unable to find it (and beginning to sound like me) he hollers for help again and accepts a wager that if the oil is really in the second shelf he would make the evening snacks every day. The young lady casually walks up, and takes out a wee little bottle of oil and hands it over to the incredulous husband. Then you have the demo shot of the uncooked tikkis actually being brushed with oil and put into this Philips air fryer and voila, perfectly browned, crisp tasty fried food that’s easy on oil too. Honestly, this is my dream come true. A machine that cooks fried food with 20 per cent of the oil. A trifle small maybe, but hey, I’m not complaining. Good ad. Great product. What a combination! I’m buying one.

Colouring their world

They say crayons are a child’s first form of expression. Camlin and RK Swamy BBDO have created a nice, soothing TV commercial for Camel crayons. A song that was adequately gentle and yet sounded like something kiddies would like enhances the overall effect and the script sticks to what the tagline says, “let’s have fun”. Something that would definitely appeal to its audience!

Vox Pop: Veera Katpitia from Mangalore, a reader of this column, likes the Federal Bank ads. She feels they are well made, they touch the heart and all the ads in the series are great. Her words, not mine. Frankly, I’ve been meaning to write about the two ads I have seen, ever since Piyush asked me at a meeting if I had seen them.

There’s one about a joke this adorable old man laughs at every time only because his wife cracks it at every get-together. And there’s one about the delightful wife who swallows the medicine her husband mixes in her milk and acts like he has been able to do it without her knowledge. I really like the way the husband and the wife are shown doing things to help each other ostensibly without the other knowing that they are doing it. That insight is the hallmark of a great relationship and that is the insight which O&M have used to describe the relationship between Federal Bank and their customers. And that’s what makes the films tick. Apart from that, delectable performances by the couple and a good script make for a series of memorable films. A great way to bring Federal Bank to the forefront of all our minds! Thank you, Veera, for reminding me to write about these ads. Maybe you will open an account with them some day.

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your thoughts and opinions to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in

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