24.2.13

Sunday ka Funda

"I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it."

 - Walt Disney 



I woke up to the lemony flavour of this advertisement. I saw it coming when the ubiquitous antiseptic liquid that is a household name started airing ads for its new dish-washing liquid. All of us have learned to add a bit of it to clean surfaces, even in the bath; they diversified into soap and handwash and even though these did not smell of roses, we felt reassured that we were safe from germs. There is something like soup during a cold about it. 

"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." 

- Bertrand Russell 

The competition in the market could naturally not take this lying down. After all, it is about the home. It hit out by using the most vulnerable segment - children. The antiseptic became 'harsh' and your dear moppet's tiffin needed something that had the power of a Sachin Tendulkar ton, but gently. 

It is an aggressive appeal and this time I think the ad has hit where it hurts. The soap and handwash segment were relatively fine with an antiseptic version around, for it would probably be the extra choice, the second wash, so to speak. You don't do the dishes twice over, and you don't want what mops your floors to touch your kid's tuck box. 

As a regular user of the antiseptic brand, I think their strategy is to depend on loyalty. No one can compete with that. 

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I have cropped the picture to hide the name of the product and not named the antiseptic brand...because I just felt like it. 

2 comments:

  1. I don't like it that they are using lemons, unless they actually have lemon extract not some synthetic that mimics lemon smell. All they are selling is synthetic chemicals, not natural extracts. I used some purely natural extracts and they are better on the skin but also more expensive. All these ads are false and misleading connecting some natural products to their chemical products. The same nonsense happens with a lot of consumer products sold, Neem toothpaste for example, put a tiny amount neem extract but the rest is all kinds of synthetic stuff and then sell it as if its a neem toothpaste, no its not. Goldspot became associated with orange, limca with lemon and it fools everyone.
    Real natural stuff is hard to get, hard to make, and people who engage in making it happen deserve our respect which is most of farm labourers all over the world, not these slick ad guys dressing up a donkey and calling it a horse,selling cheap synthetic crap and daring to compare it with majestic creations of nature. My apologies for the rant.

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  2. Sai:

    It is, indeed, a racket catering to the new 'natural' market.

    I believe some manufacturers also use this as a ruse to get rid of taxation, especially the 'ayurvedic' cosmetics.

    I admit that it is easy to get enticed by such images of lemons and the like. It's tough to get everything from the kitchen on oneself!

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