Press meets, seminars and launches  are like fodder for any journalist, they are our daily bread without which it would be impossible to fill the column spaces of any publication. But after sometime they become boring, repetitive and the glamour element also pales. It is just a chore and sometimes you walk through them like zombies.

At one such management seminar, the customary celebrity endorsements, employee referrals, brand dilution, core competency, thinking out of the box were the usual platitudes being spouted. I was suddenly jolted out of my trance like state when the speaker, creative director Mr.Balkrishnan of O&M or ‘adman Balky' as he is popularly called said  "If your client has a problem, rejoice, you have business". This was really asking for trouble and instant attention. Everybody sat up for the rest of his talk. As a typical example he switched to his ‘Fair & Lovely' TV commercial, where a dark girl is crying over her fate and after using the cream, life changes, quite dramatically for her.

According to him, his client HLL faced the problem of deteriorating sales, despite a great brand recall. He observed how a dark girl is a cause of worry to her parents and is always pestered about not being good enough to get a guy. This concept was highlighted and the TV ads were received well enough to boost the sales of Fair & Lovely. The ad was portrayed so precisely that certain women organisations went up in arms against it and  his team had to think of another strategy. He quoted his ‘Fair & Lovely Dark Circles' ad (that cute girl saying "matching not matching!") which was brought in to pacify the moralistic hypocrite women's liberation brigade.

After his talk, I inquired,  "Does the product live up to the awesome claims of your commercial?" He counter questioned, "Do you use Fair & Lovely?" I said ‘no'. He said "Use it and you will know". And as you know no  audience misses an opportunity to have a good laugh at someone else's expense and this time it was mine.

I went back wondering, why can't all ‘unfair' women in this world use this miracle cure to change a lot of things. I considered telling my dusky girlfriend who is bothered about  my mom disapproving her shade. I learnt soon enough that she is a consumer of this miracle cure and believes that it has improved her complexion. I confessed that I loved her dusky shade but she was only concerned about my mother's approval. I am still puzzled, who is unfair in this world... my girl... my mom... HLL ... Mr.Balky... or the society?

Issue BG35 Feb04

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