The Vodafone Campaign and the Controversy: Was it called for?

Whats common between the pug(the dog made famous by hutch) and the cheer girls these days..well both are definitely cute and adorable, but at the moment both are surrounded by controversies. The only difference is that one controversy has been raked up to protect the cute doggie whereas the other one is against the cheer girls. Well for now lets not talk about the sexy cheergirls made famous by IPL (POB for me for not talking about them) and lets talk about the latest controversy surrounding vodafone over the campaign involving the cute lil' doggie-the
pug.

Firstly let me congratulate O&M for coming up with such a brilliant campaign. For those who havent seen the ad, the campaign has primarily marketed its customer care with the tag line being "Happy to Help". At the moment, 4 ads are being telecasted as part of the campaign. The ads show the pug and a little gal and how the pug being a good friend helps the little girl out with the smallest of the things.

Within a week after the campaign was launched, the animal rights activists have raised protests against the ad blaming the company for showing ill treatment towards dogs by humans. Some activists have gone to the extent to say that the little things that the pug helps out the little girl with are actually a strain and that pugs due to their tiny physical structure are incapable of doing heavy work.

Now the point: Is all this really called for?

The reason why I congratulated O&M is that I felt that it was an outstanding campaign. Being an MBA mind, I tried to analyse the ad and believe it was a pretty simple analysis. I do have a few objections though.Lets talk about the pros first.

Two ads that have been aired as part of the campaign, convey the intended message to the consumer brilliantly. The little girl is getting ready for school, wearing shoes, and is trying to find a single missing sock from the pair (Obviously, the cinematography is excellent and adds to the cuteness of the ad), the little pug friend comes in with the missing sock in its mouth and gives it to the gal. Simple and yet its shows how when we go to the customer care centre of a network provider, we search for the best connection for our phone and the executive there helps us
out. The second is where the little girl is fishing with her hands in a pond and the lil doggie come running from behind with a fishing net. Brilliant campaign. Trying to show that if an executive of the customer care feels that you as a consumer are using the wrong scheme for your phone usage, he tells you to shift to the right one.

The other ads i felt were a little away from the message conveyed. The little girl is sticking stamps and the dog kneels down and sticks out its tongue to provide lubrication (ooopss...donn u go wild...m just talkin about an ad) as gum basically for the stamp. It somehow did portray a demeaning angle, as though the dog or the customer care is at the hands of the customer. The other campaign shows the dog running behind the little girls school bus with a tie in its mouth that the girls forgotten to wear. Is the customer care that desperate ???

Well, to be honest, the campaign itself was so strong that a few small factors like the one I mentioned shouldn't even count. I feel that Vodafone did the best thing by repeating what hutch did with the pug. In fact Hutch was successful in achieving the highest percentage of customer retention amongst mobile service providers after its campaign.

I do believe that the protests by animal right activists was uncalled for as somewhere the protested because they had to without a reason. Why would you protest if the campaign has been shot as per what the campaign has to convey. The animal rights activists saw an animal on the screen in ad and found an opportunity to be heard. I also do feel that the activists are hypocritical when they did nothing over the ORBIT ad which demeaned the buffalo. I found nothing wrong but what about the masses, the rural India, whoa are 70% of the whole population. For them, the buffalo and the cow are holy animals as they earn a living through them. Why did not they protest then? Well, obviously because Vodafone is a bigger company and the leverage effect is higher protesting here.

Anyways, I loved the campaign and so did many people.

THE MATRIMONIAL FARCE

I am back home for my summer interns and what a relief its been. My taste buds have been rejuvenated but the sad part is that people living around are taking a while to recognise me. First its the tonsure that i got done...secondly people think that i have got some kind of eating disorder...cant blame them i hav lost quite a lot of weight since i went to mumbai.

Anyways the buzzword at home is MARRIAGE these days. Dont worry, as all celebrities proclaim and calm the media by sayin they will let the whole world know when it happens, i too will let, if not the whole world, the known know that i am getting married and its not happening for another 4-5 years. Well its just that so many known people are getting married around and so many matches are being searched for that eventually 5 in every 10 discussions are about marriage and since the time i assured my parents that it wud be an arranged marriage for me as well, my mom doesnt need an execuse to rake up the issue.

Its quite crazy though, the frantic search for the right matches, especially for the gals in my family and for that matter in any family. The sad part i feel is that gals are not given enough time to really settle down professionally. 22,23...these are the numbers that trigger the search. Things havent improved much though. A.L.Basham mentions in his book THE WONDER THAT WAS INDIA and i quote him

"The normal religious marriage was and still is arranged by the parents of the couple, after much consultation, and the study of omens, horoscopes and auspicious physical characteristics...while a husband should be at least twenty a girl should be married immediately before puberty"


Whats the difference today? Nothing. Except that in the urban society a girl is allowed to reach puberty or a little more than that(a degree at best) and the rural india still lies within the quotes. Let the parents choose the guy for her, after all parents will always look for a good match for the child, but at least let the child choose the time and age.

And sadly there exists a discrimination between the boy and the girl and to emphasize on what i mean i quote Vrinda Nabar from her book CASTE AS WOMAN

"Discrimination between the sexes in India begins at birth, or even before it. It starts before the child is born, in the mother's womb. None of the conventional blessings showered upon a pregnant woman mentions daughters"

The guy is definitely luckier as he can take his own time, choose a dozen and then select the most ravishing beauty whom he can proudly call his better half (if he is bad looking).

Anyways, all said and done, I too would be a part of this ''great'' process( particular course of action intended to achieve a result) and yet i have a lot of time for the process to start. What the heck, I am a guy man!!!