Hi,
I’m writing this post after more than 2 years. I’m sorry and ashamed of being lazy, but also happy that finally I’m adding something meaningful, something I relate to, to my otherwise neglected blog. A lot has changed in these 2 years. I got married, migrated to Canada, had so start my career from scratch and so on. I can use some of that as an excuse by saying, I’ve been BUSY! I’ve been in Canada for these two years, but had to move back to India temporarily, to be with my wife. We had been living far from each other for more than a year.
I watch TV for the Ads
When I moved back to India, I naturally started watching Indian television and also Indian TV commercials. One of the most disturbing thing I noticed in these commercials is the lack of honesty. Some of the adverts are so good conceptually that I don’t want to hit that ‘SKIP’ button. But watching the whole commercial leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So, I decided that this is something I will write about in my coming posts. This particular post is about one of the drinks I cherish with alcohol – Mountain Dew.
Their new commercial which came out in March this year shows Hrithik Roshan playing the role of a very very young mountaineer – Arjun Vajpai who decides to take another go at conquering a mountain because last time he was unsuccessful. You can see the advert below –
There is something else in that bottle
Now, the creative team who worked on this advert must have been under tremendous pressure to relate Arjun’s story to their product. Which is why they have shown Hrithik reach out for the Mountain Due (at 0:19) attached to his waist and drink from it. Don’t they know that Mountain due is sweetened, carbonated WATER? The temperatures out there are clearly sub-zero. You can see some ice/snow stuck in Hrithik’s beard too. Yet he is drinking perfectly liquefied Mountain Dew out of the bottle. I’ve seen two winters in Toronto, and know very well that I will refrain from keeping any thing carbonated outside in sub-zero temperatures. If you keep a bottle of Mountain Due in sub-zero temperatures for an hour or two, it will not only freeze but might also explode. Apart from that, I would not want to drink a cold drink in -20ºC temperature. I’d prefer a piping hot tea or coffee.
I feel that if you say it is based on a true story, show something believable.
Having that said, I admire the courage Arjun Vajpai demonstrated to become the world’s youngest climber to conquer five different mountains peaks with heights of more than 8000 meters each. Conceptually this is ideal for Mountain Dew’s brand image as they heavily relate their drink to adventure and courage. My further research on Arjun Vajpai’s story brought me to several videos which Mountain Dew India has shared on YouTube. One such story is about when he ascended Mt. Everest and set the record to become the youngest in the world to do so. I’ll leave you with his inspiring story here. Will be back with more such posts about goof-ups or blatant lies which advertising industry tells us to sell their products.
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