Advertisement and the Endorsements
Enkyaar, Bollywood Trade News Network
While today's film stars in proportion to the hit and flop to their oeuvre get the brand endorsements there illustrious and better accomplished peers, but for an Amitabh Bachchan were deprived of the benefits of this kind especially of the male variety. The female stars were given endorsements but there endorsements were mostly for cosmetics, more so with toiletry and the ultimate triumph for a heroine in those days to become a brand ambassador for Lux Soap. The stars of the by-gone era must be despairing at the thought of not being able to have this additional income.
Were one however to reconstruct a scenario of the advertisements with the stars of the by-gone era, it would be interesting to observe that they would be able to
register immediately with a brand as the kind of image that they cultivated and nurtured for themselves continued without any deconstruction down the years.
While the stars of the present times are not able to endorse cigarette, what better brand ambassadors than a Nadira and a Rehman or a K.N. Singh for a variety of cigarette and the tag line could have been smoke the cigarette in this fashion and you could rule the world. And what better brand ambassador as a Hero than a Dev Anand humming the lines, ' Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gay, Har phikr ko Dhuen me udata chala gaya… so smoke the cigarette and let the tensions evaporate. In fact Outlook magazine had did a feature on the smokers, but this tag line left their attention as well.
How unconvincing a Shah Rukh Khan looks in the Sona Chandi Chawanprash ad, and Sunny Deol seems surreal, but a Dara Singh if he was given an opportunity to do it, would certainly have become a brand ambassador of Sona Chandi Chawanprash for all times to come.
Car brand ambassadors keep on changing but who could have been the better family than the Kishore Kumar family, with a Madhubala thrown in, the Santro wale. The sunshine that the Ganguly family (Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Anup Kumar) had brought on to the silver screen in CHALTI KA NAAM GADI, would have been a perfect casting coup as they could have been a one stop shop for all that a car company comprises, right from sales to after sales, the role being exhibited successfully by the three musketeers. Even the tyre companies could have been roped in, with the scene of tyre replacement scene from Chati Ka Naam Gadi running in the background, and an MRF would not need a Sachin or a Lara to endorse their products. The break down companies could have had been laughing all the way to the bank humming …Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhagi Si,.. More so for Mumbai, because in the monsoons lovers find themselves stuck up in the rain inside their vehicles. May be, the advertisement fraternity, as a tribute to these musketeers should carve out an advertisement by morphing the image to see for them the impact that this would generate. Are the copywriters listening?
Another brand ambassador for the motor world industry would have been a Feroze Khan who had brought the motor sports on to the silver screen for the first time and the reckless manner in which he had destroyed the Mercedes in Qurbani should have egged on the copy writers to challenge him to break a car, with the punch line, it can be turned to pieces in a film, but in the real life Mercedes is unbreakable.
Dilip Kumar was the tragedy king and along with Rajendra Kumar had emerged as the face that epitomized tragedy and pain. They could have been the best brand ambassadors for all the medicine companies, which are finding it difficult to have an icon, which would immediately register an image about their product. And they could also have been the predecessors of UP mein Dum hain campaign currently done by AB, as most of the roles that they played had a feel which was pulsating with vibrancy of UP and Bihar, and they could also speak the local language with consummate ease.
Kingfisher is still searching for a brand ambassador from the film fraternity to market its products in perpetuity, but the success is eluding. Had Vijay Mallya had been around the time when Johny Walker and Keshto Mukerjee lived, then there would not have been need to search a better brand ambassador, what with the mention only of both of them conveyed the image of a person in bliss after consuming liquor, it is altogether a different matter that both of them did not consume a drop of alcohol in their real life.
The new telecom companies that are entering the market are finding it difficult to get a toehold as the bigger companies have lifted the major stars. But what if Bhagwan and Sulochana were to be around, then the signature tune could have been, … Mere piya gaya Rangoon, wahan se (name of the company) ke phone se kia hai fune.. And a Sunil Dutt would have been the perfect brand ambassador for the romantics to market a brand of phone, as he had sung a whole song… Jalte Hain Jiske Liye… to Nutan on phone.
Alas all the stars walked into the sunset at the times when multi nations were breaking their heads but could not succeed to enter the country, had they been able to do so, most of the stars of the yester years would not have died in pecuniary.
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/features/07/mar/28_shah_rukh_ khan_amitabh_bachchan_sunny_deol.asp
Hindi TV Shows
