Does advertising take you for a ride? Yes. But if the ride is Air India’s promo for its latest in-flight safety precautions, you are in for a pleasant journey through Indian culture.
On the other hand, if the advertisements are for Ramdev’s Patanjali health products, the Supreme Court has words of warning: “…the entire country is being taken for a ride…” it said, Tuesday, while banning the company from advertising any health-related products. The advertisements were “misleading”, the SC said.
This cautionary tale comes not a moment too soon—Patanjali TV commercials flood news channels, especially Hindi ones, promoting health tablets like ‘Livogrit’ meant to cure liver diseases. Other Patanjali products come with 100 per cent pureness testing. Hmmmn. Viewers must be confused: ‘should we believe the Supreme Court of India or Ramdev?’
Even as we wrestle with this dilemma, comes another angle to the issue: Most of us accept that all advertising is intentionally “misleading,” but if that’s so, what about ‘Modi ki Guarantee’?
Television commercials touting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s achievements or those of BJP-run states barrage every single commercial break on news channels – it’s like a tsunami, wave upon wave of advertisements fill the screen every few minutes, each day.
Mainstream newspapers like The Times of India and The Indian Express are also smiling their way to the bank as ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ fills their pages, too. Is it naïve to believe they exaggerate reality?
Also read: New govt will foot the bill for Modi govt’s advertising splurge
Flood of ads by BJP govts
You do wonder why the BJP is making such a splash when the election tide already seems to be in its favour. Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, just weeks away now, PM Modi appears unassailable. As we watch the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh in tatters after cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections, Tuesday, the return of Modi is imminent, ‘Modi ki Guarantee’.
If that is so, why this flood of advertisements? Equally, why is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spending so much of his time on TVCs? Modi and Yogi are seen more often in ads than on the news—and that’s really saying something. The way the ad campaigns are sweeping everything in their way, you’d think the BJP is aiming for 500 seats in the general election.
Such is the confidence on display that a small BJP-run state like Goa is also boasting of ads on TV: just saw one for ‘Swayampurna Goa’. Not to be left behind, the Haryana government is promoting its UID (unique identification number) for ‘4 lakh 40,000’ home owners and free spiritual yatras.
Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Singh Dhami government, meanwhile, is busy promoting its Uniform Civil Code. TV commercials promote UCC as the great equaliser – and we see grinning faces of individuals from all communities welcoming the UCC Bill.
And here’s an unusual one: Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s chief minister, is for some reason best known to his PR team, going national with ads about the state’s electrification. The punchline is more than a little piquant, given the number of times Kumar has switched alliance partners: ‘Nitish Sarkar- Rishtha Vishwas Ka’.
As for the Opposition, it’s a big fat no show – except for the Bhagwant Singh Mann government in Punjab. He’s definitely giving Yogi a run for second place in the advertising sweepstakes. Advertisements for ‘Rangla Punjab’ celebrate the state; other commercials and ‘Special Features’ discuss Mann’s free ration scheme, anti-drug initiative being endorsed by a police officer, anti-gangster drive (whatever that is), ‘zero tolerance for crime’, government jobs for 40,000 youth (really?), improvement in education, health… Once upon a time in Punjab, there was Bhagat Singh, says an advertisement, now there’s Bhagwant Singh Mann.
Coincidentally, comes news that shots were fired by unidentified assailants at a restaurant where Punjabi lyricist Bunty Bains had dinner. So much for `zero tolerance for crime’.
Also read: TV news made you feel little sympathy for farmers. The ‘high voltage drama’ a public nuisance?
‘Viksit Bharat’—in Modi-Yogi ads
The Modi-Yogi campaign touches upon all their individual and combined successes. ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ ads are largely PM-exclusive, ‘Vikshit Bharat’ features both, while some are all about the UP chief minister.
The current ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ series has children’s voice-overs highlighting what the government has done for their mother and father: ‘Who makes my father strong?’; ‘Who watches out for my mother?’ a child asks and then answers it with, ‘Modi ji. Thank you Modi ji’.
The Modi-Yogi combination is used to promote various schemes and initiatives of the Centre and the state on health like the Ayushman Bharat scheme or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. These ads feature ‘sick’ people lauding the schemes for making unaffordable hospital treatment and cheap medication accessible to them.
Ironically, even as the advertisements were running on air, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal delivered a speech in the assembly, claiming that patients from UP were seeking medical care in the national capital.
Other Modi schemes for rapid trains, the recent rooftop solar energy scheme, homes for the poor, gas cylinders—all towards a ‘Viksit Bharat’ sing the praises of the PM and the UP CM.
The Adityanath government has also invested in `Special Features’, which laud his development work in Ayodhya and Kashi with grateful citizens’ offering their testimonials.
The picture that emerges from these campaigns is so rosy that you want to immediately press the lotus button on the EVM. Is there room for improvement? Seems not.
Lastly, let’s return to the Supreme Court: perhaps it would like to take note of TVCs for ayurvedic medicine from companies other than Patanjali, too? Saw ads with just a contact mobile number, promising cures for `kidney fail, liver fail’.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
Below is a paragraph from this article.
The Modi-Yogi campaign touches upon all their individual and combined successes. ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ ads are largely PM-exclusive, ‘Vikshit Bharat’ features both, while some are all about the UP chief minister.
News is the real Ad.
Have you not seen the advertisement of Punjab Government on news channels?
Newspapers are full of political advertisements and are being paid in return, but the cost of newspapers for readers hasn’t come down.