|
Britannia Little Hearts' (orange flavour) outdoor campaign and
more recently, soft drink Mirinda (again orange flavoured) both
took off on the Hutch ad concept.
While Lowe came out with the Britannia Little Hearts outdoor campaign
earlier this year, the recent one to rock the television screens
is the Mirinda television commercial (TVC). The agency has cut-pasted
the Hutch campaign but in the end transformed the loyal pug into
a treacherous beast who is hungry for the Mirinda!
 |
| You
and I, in this beautiful world... green grass, blue skies and
a few followers!!!! |
The brains behind the Hutch ads are O&M senior creative directors
Mahesh V and Rajeev Rao who were earlier in the Mumbai office but
have recently been moved to the agency's Bangalore office. Speaking
to indiantelevision.com on the issue, the euphoric Mahesh
who is presently celebrating his Abby successes in Mumbai, said,
"The recent Mirinda ad is stupid. It is like a parasite who
is trying to drink from our very successful campaign. Usually bad
ads are spoofed rather than good ones. But anyway, this one has
worked in our favour. We were at one point planning to send a champagne
bottle to the agency that made the ad!" (laughs).
As such there are no copyright infringement laws that come into
the picture here, but the code of ethics do. "If the Mirinda
ad had done justice to our Hutch campaign then it would have been
a good spoof but in this case it has turned out to be a bad ad.
And more surprising is the fact that big brands are doing something
like this. First it was Britannia and now Mirinda," said a
peeved Mahesh.
While everyone unanimously appreciates the Amul hoardings which
are spoofs on topical events; this one on Mirinda by JWT (Delhi)
doesn't seem to be getting a lot of appreciation as it piggy back
rides on the lil doggie and the kid's popularity.
JWT senior creative director and associate vice-president Anuja
Chauhan Alva has an altogether different perspective to offer however.
Alva said, "We've been making the 'character phislaa jaye'
ads for Mirinda for a while now. We've shown a mother - son, lovers',
brothers' relationship going sour because of Mirinda, so when we
saw the Hutch ad with the infinite loyalty and love between the
dog and the kid, we went on to make a spoof on it too." Unlike
what Mahesh said, Alva said that spoofs are not usually made on
bad ads. "One of the Sprite ads was a spoof on the Pepsi ad
starring Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. That was not a bad
ad. So it's not true that only bad ads are spoofed."
When asked if the latest Mirinda ad would have more brand recall
for Hutch rather than Mirinda, Alva was quick to defend her stance.
"I don't think so. At the end of the day it doesn't matter
to us how many cell phone subscribers Hutch has as long they are
drinking the correct soft drink! Mirinda piyo, Hutch pe baat karo,
(Drink Mirinda, speak on Hutch)," she said.
Talking about the ethics involved here, Alva said, "It is
all about the ethics of the public. As long we are not offending
the viewers in any way, it is ok." Alva also pointed out that
her anti-smoking ad won a Cannes award last year which was a take
off on one of the Marlboro cigarettes ads. Point taken.
From an ad man's perspective and that too one who is not in any
way connected to any of the ads in question here, Euro RSCG's vice
president and creative director Ashok Karnik offered his views,
"I don't think there is any copyright issue here. The Mirinda
ad is a take off on the popularity of the original commercial. And
as long as the spoofs are not derogatory to the original campaign,
it is ok. The Hutch campaign is so good, any amount of spoofing
won't affect it."
Whether ethical or not, Britannia and Mirinda have become a topic
of conversation due to their resemblance to the Hutch ad. Whether
it works in their favour or Hutch's is an issue open for debate.
|
