Guttural manly voice :
Swapna sundari wearing maxi
Getting out of a yellow taxi
Walks into a club
Paagal ho gaye sab
Surprisingly.. she chooses me.
Squeaky high pitched female voice
Is that a pen in your pocket mister? Or are you .. just happy to see me ??... Lexi pens, now, in every paacket in your city
This ad for Lexi pens (listen to it here) plays day in and day out on the radio and I am not sure what to make of it. I mean it's silly enough to pass off as humour and yet.. in a country where colleges are banning jeans because :
a) it ensures discipline
b) low waist jeans and short tops represent a threat to collective morality
It shouldn't be long, before 'pens in pockets' get the axe ...
And what about toothpaste? Colgate Maxfresh gel with cooling crystals has a radio ad which goes something like this :
Woman interviewer : I see you are an MBA.. that means Married but Available
Flustered man: Um.. but..
Woman interviewer: I want you to work under me... So would you like to be paid in kind.. or kind?
And there's another version of that where a girl goes to buy a movie ticket and the guy at the counter says he has two.. but only if she agrees to sit next to him.
Not sure whether this will help the product.. considering that this is not Italy where even waiters look like they just stepped out of a movie set. But hey, toothpaste is becoming a risque item - parents, guardians and principals please note. Who knows what impressionable young minds are thinking as they brush each morning...
And of course mints.. they need to be banned too.Now that Polo is running its 'sabse bada hint' campaign. Kya pataa kaun kise kya hint de raha ho...
Bottomline : Sex can and is used to sell anything and everything... On the other side, the powers that be are trying hard to hard to sell 'decency' as a virtue. Confusion nahin hoga to kya hoga?
Ab Lexi pens ko hi dekh lo.The TV commercial is the 'wholesome' type. Mummy in a sari, cute kid, chacha. The radio ad on the other hand is about swapna sundari and not so subtle double entendre. It's all about tailoring the message for the audience.
The parallel with real life couldn't be more apt. All that parents and principals can demand is 'appear wholesome' in front of us. Peeth peechey kya ho raha hai.. woh to khuda hi jaane. Which seedha saada kid metamorphoses into 'studboy18' or 'ilikeithot21' while chatting late into the night - kya pataa?
The age of 'multiple personality on order' is upon us. As the Fastrack guys put it: 'How many you have?'
Omigod that was one of those ads... wonder if colleges would like to consider banning watches on campus as well?
