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Remember the legendary film Sholay? The famous
dialog—Arey oo Sambha ... Kitne aadmi the
re? ("Hey You, Sambha, how many men were there?") And then those three
gun fire shots? Gabbar Singh played a Russian game of chance
called Roulette. During a recent telecast of the movie on a TV
channel, almost immediately after this scene, the Britannia Glucose-D
ad appeared, and the background voice said
"Gabbar ki asli pasand—Glucose-D biscuit" (i.e.,
"Gabbar's original choice—Glucose-D biscuit"). One may be tempted
to question the association between `Glucose-D biscuit' and the
movie's storyline? However, one would recognize the link between
movies and advertisements. Movies need marketing, and movies are also
a media to market other products/services.
Its advertising agency daCunha Communications catches up on current events
and turns the situations into catchy advertisements, which
express well-thought out ideas. This is done almost every week
so customarily, that when something important
happens, people tend to think "How will Amul portray this?"
The advertisements are released primarily in the form
of hoardings, and then used in other media, including on the back
of the Amul butter packs.
Spoof is a gentle satirical imitation or a light parody. What Amul
and such other companies do to promote their products can also be termed
as burlesque advertising strategy. The word burlesque has its roots in
an Italian word that means to joke, to put on or make a mockery of.
The Oxford Dictionary defines burlesque as a comically exaggerated
imitation, especially in the field of literary or dramatic work. It is a
concept adopted even by Shakespeare, who used parodies for drawing
attention to social issues of his times. An example can be seen in his play
King Lear, where the fool is introduced using this idea. In present times,
in the Indian context, the medium has shifted from dramas to movies. |
