JSW Paints’ I-Day ad: A moment marketing attempt gone wrong?
The ad, created by TBWA/India, has drawn criticism for its very idea and has also been called a copy of a three-year-old short film
As the country celebrated its 75th year of Independence, a number of brands came out with thought-provoking and patriotic campaigns to mark the day. Amongst the many interesting creatives that made their way to the media the past week, JSW Paint’s campaign ‘Jab Soch Sundar Hogi Tabhi To Desh Sundar Hoga’ got a lot of attention on social media.
An extension of the brands ‘Think Beautiful’ positioning, the campaign is being lauded for its thought, however, the basic premise of the ad that talks about Indians’ civic sense is not sitting well with many.
In an elaborate post on LinkedIn, Communication Strategy Consultant Karthik Srinivasan wrote, “While I fully understand the reason behind why JSW Paints made this ad, and that too, now I believe this ad does a disservice in multiple ways… It's a tremendous irony that we are celebrating something that we should be ashamed of. And that we need such visible, performative crutches (like God's photos or the flag) to deter us from behaving in the most basic, civil manner.
“There's no behavior change in the JSW Paints film. Rather, the behavior is directed towards the flag - reverence to the flag (which is understandable, admirable, and relevant). The behavior change should actually be towards cleanliness. That it is still missing should be a concern to all of us.”
Thought Blurb Communications Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director Vinod Kunj further noted, “The ad got talked about, in this age of extreme clutter. So, it has done its job! However, the plot and execution goes one way, while the pay-off goes off into a tangent. The point of the ad was to get empathy for the brand using the Tiranga, which is good moment marketing. A behavior shift towards a cleaner cityscape will need a protracted campaign. A paint company is well placed to do that and maybe they will.”
Social Panga Co-Founder Himanshu Arora felt that the creative thought behind the campaign is ok but “the basic premise of putting our national flag colors to teach someone not to spit on a public wall, itself is a cringe worthy thought. It’s an ironic situation in our society.”
He concluded, “Bringing a national flag or patriotism to educate people about basic hygiene & wellness, speaks a lot about our society & advertising is just a way to depict us. Since we are speaking about the ad, it has already served the purpose & brand is going to anyway benefit from the same. From the advertising point of view, it’s hitting the point but as an Indian citizen, I should not be proud of such basic civic behaviour.”
Copy Claims
While the internet is discussing the ad and Indians’ civic sense, a group of creators have claimed that the ad is a copy of their three-year old short film created for a contest initiated by NFDC, a body of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
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Reacting to the claims, a JSW Group spokesperson said, “JSW Paints new digital film to commemorate India's 75 years of independence aims to shed light on a common problem we face in every neighbourhood across the country; the issue of spitting in public places. Our new film creatively appeals to the public sensibilities on this problem in a unique manner. We would like to confirm that neither JSW Paints nor the TBWA team had any knowledge about the existence of such a video nor have we come across this submission earlier. We would like to believe that both teams share a like-minded approach to our social issues and come up with beautiful solutions to solve them.”
