Follow Us
A woman saddled with a broken chappal…a man who carries on without giving her a helping hand… the hustling bustling station environment...it’s a mirror reflection of most marriages that exist today. Ditto goes for the commercial wherein the saree-clad wife gets drenched in the rain even as the husband moves on ahead armed with the sole umbrella.
NGO Breakthrough has developed a multimedia campaign: ‘What kind of a man are you?’ to bring attention to the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst married women and the lack of responsibility that exists amongst their male partners. The campaign has been conceived and executed by ad veteran Prasoon Joshi; and includes TV and radio spots and print ads in six different languages: Bengali, Hindi, English, Tamil and Telegu.
What’s interesting is the fact that several media houses are giving pro bono time for this particular AIDS awareness campaign which includes Doordarshan, STAR TV, Sony TV, NDTV, Sun, Dainik Bhaskar, Radio Mirchi, Amar FM and Rediff.com.
Says Raj Nayak, NDTV Media CEO, “As a responsible broadcaster, we felt the need to partner with this kind of an initiative. When you have the power of media in your hands and the ability to make a difference, it’s essential that you do something constructive with it. As a matter of policy, NDTV has been partnering with various socially relevant efforts over time. And more often than not, we have not been charging for the air time. That’s our little contribution to society. Something that we are giving back! ”
Meanwhile, Sameer Nair, COO, STAR India, asserts, “It is a known fact that across the world, millions of women are infected by their husbands and long term partners. Finally, you have a campaign that addresses the same. And it’s not surprising that most media publications and channels are eager to give this cause their support. The fact of the matter is that this is a problem, which is as much yours as is mine, and we ought to chip in, in all possible ways.”
The man who has told the story in so many words, and brought out the crucial message at hand is ad veteran Prasoon Joshi. Clear and clinical…the two commercials are aptly handled and sensitively put. What gave Joshi the inspiration? Try statistics?
To read the entire story, grab your copy of Impact Advertising and Weekly magazine issue dated May 23-29, 2005