Having served the Advertising Industry for few years, I have developed a notion that I know less about what forms an advertising message can take, that what I used to believe when I graduated out of college. I have worked with some of the best names in the advertising world, and thankfully, have learnt a lot.
Something that has constantly worried me or should I say troubled my conscience is the fact that the messages sent out by advertisements do not convey the actual reality of the product or the service. Sometimes the effect may be unintentional, but most of the times, it is intentional.
Let me take an example to make things clearer:
We all know about the plethora of "fairness" creams being sold out through the world. There must be over 1000 brands ranging from Christian Dior to Dabur, but all have the tough task of "Market Differentiation" cut out for them. To be honest, all such products can be categorized in about a dozen chemical combinations, but to the unsuspecting consumer, they are 1000 different products. "Fairness" or something that promises so, sells like hot cakes in the subcontinent. How many of us have got fairer with the use of one(or many) of these fairness creams, but these still sell, don’t they?. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not here to debunk this myth, or intend to hit the cosmetic market with a meagre review of mine. My point here is that, we as advertizers sell a dream - something as a vitual image of the consumer to the consumer. Since Fairness is highly sought for(For whatever reason), such a market exists.
To sell a dream is not easy. Spelling out reality in simple words or actions will be depiction of reality itself. In order to aviod that form happening, the brand managers and the promotions counterpart devise means to show the "Virtual me" to the "Real me". Since there is nothing like the "virtual me", advertisers may go to any length to come with ideas to sell to the consumer. In this entire journey, the real value / benefot or the product(the fairness cream here) is left long behind, and a completely new image comes up.
Take another example:
Godrej sold their refrigerators with "Puf", thus differentiating their product / brand from their competetors. Puf stands for Poly Urethane Foam, a polymer that is used to privide insulation to the refrigerator’s body. All refriderators have it and have had it for decades. The unsuspecting consumer does not understand that, and considers this to be a great feature. We as advertisers know everything, but do nothing about it.
The crux of the matter here is that the advertiser comes between the company selling something and the end consumer. The advertising faternity has all the right information, most of the time, to understand how and where the consumer is getting taken for a ride. There is not enough realization fo the professionsl responsibility that we carry among the faternity. We do what the client wants, most of the time suggesting the fake / false USPs ourselves.
I have stayed in Europe for 7 years prior to returing to India and have see the landscape there as well. The same product sold in Europe is packaged in a different guise, and promoted with very different theme, to rule a different market. Going back to the same example of the fairness cream, which can be marketed as Sun Tan in Holland as well - directly opposite to it position in India
I can take the liberty to write this reality as I am not working for any organisation temperarily. I am professional enough not to disclose the names of my previous organizations or the brands that I have worked for.
My advice to the MS faternity is simple - Analyse products / services based on intelligent analysis / reviews but not necessarily by what the commercials claim. Remember, there is nothing like the "Virtual Me".
Keep Smiling!