DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

What with the inflation and collapsing economies, we increasingly find it hard to live our life without advertisements and sponsorships. Product placements seem to have penetrated every aspect of our visible life¹.

But the product placements we see in everyday life can go two ways (like songs in Indian movies) : subliminal messages blending the ads with the content seamlessly, or in your face marketing. Recently I came across these two different approaches in two TV serials:

Scenario 1: Eureka is a township housing the best of the best scientific minds in US, working to push the boundaries of science, in a military contracts company. In one episode, the head of the company is in a video conference. When he finishes the conference, the screen shifts to the logo of the phone manufacturing company².

Now the fact is that logo belongs to a real-world company working in telecommunication and software field, and you just watched a highest-security-clearance video conference taking place on the phone by that company (or at least, using the software by that company). Clever? Oh yes. Subtle? No doubt. Now that’s what I call genius³…

Scenario 2: In every episode of CID on Sony channel, you get at least one instance when someone, mostly Fredericks⁴, gives you the “Coming Attractions” on Sony in as subtle manner as Peeves’ practical jokes⁵.

I am not comparing Hindi vs English serials, or Indian vs American advertising here. I mean, perhaps the best ads I have ever seen are the Fevicol and Feviquick ads on Indian television, while I am still wondering how a caveman who parties, uses airports, has access to news channels and psychiatrist, and knows the words like “existential meltdown” is different from a modern man.

What I am saying is, many times, in your face marketing gets opposite results than intended (telemarketing, anyone?).

I have just come across a product placement in a book. A character (maybe main, I haven’t gone that far in the book) thinking that shifting to Mac from PC has changed her life for better, reducing the booting time. What do you think of that?

Footnotes:

1. I still haven’t seen anybody putting company logos on the underclothes for advertisement, but I cannot be entirely sure here, can I?

2. Something like when your Dell laptop has Dell desktop image as default originally when you buy it.

3. But then, you swing a microbe and hit 10 genius in Eureka, but that’s for another post.

4. The guy seems to have been added to the cast for comic relief. As if the other goings-on were not humorous enough…

5. For the ignoramuses, these include statues falling on your head and suchlike.