But heavy advertising on channels like MTV, MAX, Star Plus, Zee, Zee Cinema, Discovery and Channel [V] proves the changing profile of the potential consumer for the advertisers, in this category, from children to teenagers/young adults as well as adults.

Taking a look at the growth of chocolates category across the last four years, it is seen that average spends for this category have gone down in 2003 as compared to 2002. The spends for this category usually show a categorical rise in the festive season - from August to November 2003. But they show a steep decline after September. This can be attributed to the adverse coverage in media received by the Cadbury chocolate bars. In fact, 2003 records the lowest spends for the month of November across 2000-2003.

Moving on to the individual advertisers, we see that almost all the advertisers drop advertising during winters as well as in the months of Apr-Jun. Advertising in the festive season sees Cadbury shadowing Nestle across all months in 2003, but November -December 2003 has a different story to tell. Owing to the adverse coverage for Cadbury's in October, advertising for Cadbury's products dropped in November -December, which in turn helped Nestle in being the top advertiser for the chocolates category in these months. Other players in the market- Campco and GCMMF are not a lot into brand promotion through advertising.

We shall be coming out with similar analyses in the next few weeks. Keep watching this space for more.....