Reading about the Spiderman killed by the Baygon Spray in Krib’s blog, all I can do is sigh about what I am missing. I have always regretted missing the Hutch ads and now this too. But everytime I go back, I can spot atleast one good ad on the T.V.
Singapore being the HQ of every other industry in Asia, I wonder how the Ad industry gave it a go. You need to see only one ad to find out how bad it is. It is so bad that the government splurges on ads by asking some foreign ad agencies to take out ads and these ads are somehow slightly above the reeking pile of sad advertisements. Some of these government ads are worse. This is how they ask you to donate blood:
A kick boxing duel. One guy hits the other guy on the nose. Zoom in to the nose, show the blood dropping, zoom out to show th guy dropping, then zoom in again on the blood. Cut to “Blood could be spent better, blah blah Donate”.
Not to see the countless beauty ads a la VLCC with a “Before” and “after” pictures or the images of barbie doll like Media Corp Artistes as sponsors (these are the people who star in Singapore TV Shows, often the same people act in different shows creating stars out of them).
The only other ads you can see are the “text-book” ads. Ads that stick to the principle of telling the views the benefits and advantages of the products ONLY throught the course of the ad.A motonous male/female voice rambles around a upper class house while explaining the “goodness” of the product. Perhaps they have not yet learnt the idea of making the viewers REMEMBER the product.
That, is something Indian ads seem to excel at. Whether it was the quaint and nostalgic nirma (which has now become one of the run of the mill detergent ads) or the Vicco Vajardanthi or even the new Baygon Spray ad, there is an element of fun and entertainment which we viewers remember much later. I think it helps when I am choosing between Mortien or Baygon Spray. I will choose something I remember the most (Assuming they all have “special formule” to kill insects).
But there was this one ad which showed all is not lost with the ad industry in east asia. It was the CityBank (or was it something else?) ad featuring James Bond and an autorickshaw where the James Bond pays for the speed and spine breaking ride with his Credit Card. This was when the last James Bond movie was out. There has not been a single good ad after that.
Oh well, gotta make do with these ads. Or catch the Indian ones in tamil on Sun T.V. :).