I probably have no sense of humour, but I do not find this ad funny at all. You place a bushman who starts digging the ground, finds something, beats on it, holds it above his wide-open mouth, squeezes it and a drop finally appears. The other bushman shouts out, “What are you doing?” His attention is diverted and the drop falls on the ground. They chase each other around a thatched hut while the voice-over asks, “Thirsty?” A bottle falls and then there is the chant of “lemon, lemon, lemon”.
Just what the hell are they trying to convey by using people who are poor, considered backward, living in isolation? Is this their target market? No. Why are bushmen used at all? There was a film ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ but it was supremely satirical about consumerist habits, especially that Coca Cola can falling for the sky. And it was not selling anything.
Parle, the manufacturers of LMN the drink, would have been equally culpable had they used Indian villagers or farmers on parched land. It is insensitive and serves no purpose. How can anyone who likes bottled drinks and lives in relative comfort be motivated? I am not.
If this is considered entertaining and humorous then I seriously don’t think I have a funny bone.
Please tell me if you do and why. Also, would you be motivated to buy this drink after seeing this particular ad? I am not judging anyone; I seriously would like to know if something is wrong with me.
Humour based on other people's misery is not really funny to anyone who knows that water scarcity is a scary reality to a large portion of the rural populace in underdeveloped countries.
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the difference between making fun of people who do not have access to clean water and making fun of the physically handicapped for their disability.
FV
ReplyDeleteWell, you raised very valid concern and question about such barbaric and ridiculous Adds which make no sense at all, rather they seem to be cruel, inhumane and barbaric. I see such adds routinely and always think that I may be the only one who has such feelings about such nonsensical adds.
Thanks to you for bringing up your view about such derogatory adds.
circle
>>I probably have no sense of humour.<<
ReplyDeleteOnly where it has to do with soft drinks and their containers, it seems . . . :D
We have a copy of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" (the sequel, too) on DVD. My favorite part is where the rebels kick-in the door to the dictator's office, only for it to bounce off the wall and slam back shut in their faces. The kids replay that scene over and over on the comparatively few occasions we've watched the film.
Appropos of your Of "Child Porn and Women Soldiers" post, I must say that the bare asses on the Bushmen tribal (and his children) were a bit disconcerting at first. The movie was, among other things, a spoof on the sort of genre in which Africa documentaries have been produced (golden ring-stretched necks and bare breasts), suggesting no small irony that the "primitive" under observation may have had a clearer understanding of his place in the world than those doing the observing their own. It's a work of art, imv, and, while there's no accounting for how some may respond to images of half-clad children, I thought the director preserved the innocence of their circumstance sufficiently so as to deflect most any suggestion of exploitative impropriety.
As for the lemon, lemon, lemon ad, thanks for posting it. I didn't get it right away, but it seems the play on "The Gods Must Be Crazy" film relates to the labor involved in acquiring a tuber from the hot sands and scraping it, all for barely a sip. For some, making lemonade is troublesome and time consuming. A bottle of LMN, apparently, gives you more time to chase your friend around the hut (what else is there to do once you've elimated the tuber hunt?).
I rarely drink such sugared water. The ad won't change that.
The ad is offensive. It's racist (bushmen? really?), it smacks of privilege (someone who's poor and needs water will buy an overpriced soft drink?!). Ads are rarely sensitive, but this one is way out there.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this ad much but still I can pretty much agree with you because I have seen the other ad in which they are digging the ground for water and suddenly they locate a tap and run towards it. Instead of drinking of it they remove it out holding the long pipe and start digging with the pipe. You know that one, right? I found that ad senseless and rather ridiculous. I have never understood what exactly they want to convey by that ad. Or whether it conveys anything at all.
ReplyDeleteAl, Circle, Unmana, Darshan: Yes it is all of the things...and yet it is being promoted as entertaining and funny.
ReplyDeleteThe ad guys are more interested in getting their stupid awards. And the Advertising Council only notices certain recognisable politically incorrect ads.
Thanks...
Mstaab:
ReplyDeleteI think you are being too kind to the ad.
But first ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’, the bare-assed people, including children, did convey untouched by urban spoils. It did not seek to alienate. Even in certain non-tribal societies parents and children bathe together (Japan being one, ironically) and the dynamics are entirely different.
Now the ad, even if you see it as labour, there is the element of reducing it to nothing. Is it a metaphor for time-consuming lemonade? I wouldn’t squeeze a lemon if I can get a drink off a bottle, but I do know that my circumstances are not such as to involve the kind of strenuous labour shown. Those people are not like us and the humour is deprecating. You mention the chasing around the hut “because what else is there to do”.
Precisely. another problem. For people who have to survive for the basic minimum they are just running around huts. Would this impress upon the leisurely class?
No.
>>I probably have no sense of humour.<<
Only where it has to do with soft drinks and their containers, it seems . . . :D
You forgot the addle-brained ad agencies…
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Al:
I forgot to add...Right you are about this being seen on par with people making fun of disabilities.
>>I think you are being too kind to the ad.<<
ReplyDeleteYes, I was being kind, Farzana; but not to the ad. And, whether or not it was too kind or not kind enough is a matter of interpretation. Yours may be correct, however. It doesn't seem to take much to encourage them.
>>Those people are not like us and the humour is deprecating.<<
Are they not still people though? The ad guys may be disabled in ways that are not readily apparent -- or in ways not yet understood.
Of course, there is a condition popularly referred to as the Stockholm syndrome. That might account for some of my kindness -- you know, captive market, and all that . . .
>>For people who have to survive for the basic minimum they are just running around huts. Would this impress upon the leisurely class?<<
I've never been much into running, no. :D
>>But first ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ . . .<<
Or 'not gods' -- which would seem to have been the other half to the film's premise.
Mstaab:
ReplyDelete>>Those people are not like us and the humour is deprecating.<<
Are they not still people though? The ad guys may be disabled in ways that are not readily apparent -- or in ways not yet understood.
Mark, 'those people' are the bushmen and I implied that the ad guys did not understand. If it is apparent to the audience and they are laughing AT these bushmen, then the ad is playing up to that superiority complex.
The Stockholm Syndrome applies when we are captive to products and ideas. This is just base humour at work.
>>But first ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ . . .<<
Or 'not gods' -- which would seem to have been the other half to the film's premise.
'Not gods' would allude to the existence of gods and thereby godliness.
But, then, you already know that :)