Monday, March 16, 2009

New Public Interest Ads

Of late quite a few public interest ads have caught my attention. The ones by PCRA are great. ("20% discount on petrol/LPG"). Very striking ads that make one realize the impact of energy prudence at the individual level.
The best of these ads is the one in which a kid is sitting with his Dad in a car, looking around at all the energy that is going waste as vehicle exhaust at a traffic signal. Suddenly his face lights up and he says "Ahhh!! A cycle repair shop!". His father quizzes him about his exclamation. The kid replies, "A cycle repair shop! That is what I will open once I grow up. Looking at what people are doing now, am sure we'll lose all petrol very soon. After that people will have to get back to cycles".
Lovely ad! Captures the stark realities of today's world in the garb of the enlightened innocence of a child.
What is surprising is that these ads have a good visual clarity/quality. A far cry from the blurry, pale frames that characterized public interest ads of the type that used to appear on Doordarshan :D

8 comments:

Unknown said...

After seeing such CLASS ads, if I watch the ad for products like Orbit white (a doctor and a buffalo ad), I will cry more than that buffalo.

King Vishy said...

@karthick prabu..
LOL.. Ya.. and i *HATE* Bingo ads.. they get on my nerves..

King Vishy said...

So this explains why we are seeing more of social ads these days:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Social-ads-rule-television-print-space/articleshow/4274015.cms

Everything is connected to the recession :)

Thanks to rathu for the link!!

R Srikkant said...

That 'cycle repair shop' ad is a classic one na, love it!! Are these govt ad's? We would, de facto, expect OUR govt's to run more of 'shining india' like campaigns, than to do real public interest Ad's!! Is India changing? :)

Bhargavi Krishnan said...

yes anna.. the cycle repair shop adv is really good :) I think I'll start being nice to my vandi from herein :)

R.Balamurugan said...

The best of such ads I've evr seen was the "Shaitaan ban na aasan hai..par kya insaan bane rahna itna mushkil hai??" one...
used 2b aired on DD..once upon a time..more than 10 yrs since i saw it..but still every bit of it...
I'm not sure if we 've discussed this one earlier...

Anonymous said...

The cycle ad seems to be very nice. Haven't seen it though.

King Vishy said...

@r srikkant..
He he ya.. they are from public agencies.. Though the quality is surprising, it shouldn't be so.. Cos in times of recession, govt agencies are least affected.. Their coffers are still heavy.. So not very surprising right?? :)

@bhargavi krishnan..
Awesome!!! keep the vehicle switched off at signals.. Will save a lottttt of fuel and exhaust.. that will mean being nice to not just your vandi, but also to the environment.

@r.balamurugan..
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va_ml6k7_Fk
One of the earliest social ads I have seen on TV :) (If the link does not appear fully, search for "purab se surya uga" on youtube)

@vasanthakumar..
Tried youtube-ing it out.. But couldnt find yet.. am sure someone will put it up soon..