Monday, August 12, 2013

Uncommon Needs - Satisfied

Companies seemed to me to all be vying to satisfy the same needs. All male deodorants seemed to be targeted at getting gaggles of women chasing the man who chose to use them. You may argue that women cosmetics addressed different needs - to become an air-hostess, to be able to attend a surprise party and what not - but it all reduces in the end to increasing fairness in various visible and invisible parts of the female anatomy or in addressing the needs of the dead keratin that covers the scalp (Yes! The green-eyed monster - Jealousy - is rampant in me).

Please do not cite the product that addresses the need of a woman to pull a truck out of a pothole with her hair. What the woman wants to do with her hair may be uncommon but it all reduces to that damned keratin again.

Coming across a few products that address some uncommon needs was, indeed, a pleasant surprise although they shattered my complacent view of the ways of companies. Offhand, I can recollect only a few of them.

Have you ever thought of what would happen if you were in a woods and some desirable damsels made off with your shirt? You feel the need to go chasing after them - and are, as yet, not clear whether you want the shirt or the dames. And, once you find them you suddenly discover that you needed neither the shirt nor the damsels and could make do with sunglasses instead? We have just the bike for you.

How about if you have never stepped into water because you are afraid of it. You, of course, are absolutely confident that, if only you could shed that irrational fear, you have the ability to jump into the sea off a hundred foot high cliff without breaking your neck and, also, that you will not go glug-glug after that and pickle your insides with salt-water ( All this confidence even though you are not Rajnikant. You just cannot be Rajnikant, can you, if you can be afraid of anything at all). If only a company could make a product to rid you of that fear. Well, we have - drink our soft drink and, voila, you are ready to take the plunge.

What if it feels awesome to you to go to the very few pristine unpolluted areas of the world and pollute them with chemicals? To jump into an arctic pool dressed in nothing much more than foam singing all the while about how awesome it is. Sing hosannas to our soap.

It is so comforting to know that companies are only too eager to tailor products to suit our needs - no matter how uncommon our needs are. And we keep complaining about how little they care for us. Life is so unfair.

24 comments:

  1. haha Do these needs even exist or are they just a figment of some ad agency's imagination?

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    1. Don't they? :) I did not feel these needs but when I saw the ad.s i was reassured that there must be people who do :)

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  2. You should search for "Banned ads" on Youtube if you really want to have a up close and personal idea of ad agency craziness. Its a nice way to spend an afternoon. Again, you left me with a smile

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    1. What I get on TV is sufficient to be going on with Ritu :) Masochism has not yet reached such heights in me that I will deliberately go seeking such ad.s :)

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  3. Hilarious. This is what happens when creative people are involved in the business!

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    1. Creative people? Like the one who created that crass ad about counting coup on women in competition with his car driver?

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  4. Conjuring people's non existent needs - now if that's not creative then what else?

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  5. How else can one explain the massive Ad budget of cosmatic companies?They ensure a popular face which brings in visibilty.Stastically,it is the rural market which actually taking to cosmetics.Yes,the question remains of non existant needs

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  6. You know one guy sued a manufacturer of famous deos saying he had been using it for eons but no gang of gals followed him.

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    1. Hahaha! If the matter is still sub judice i'll be awaiting the outcome of the case eagerly :)

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  7. So good to see you back to talking of ads' world again. These advertisements are getting crazier day by day :)

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  8. Suresh Ji who better than you could take them for a ride .. u may not take it as a joke I have a friend who buys only AXE deo .. he feels womankind get attracted to him :D I am scared soon I will come to know he drowned himself with a Dew bottle in hand :D
    Thanks for praising the Ad Agencies for their wonderful ads they show :)
    :) My personal request - one post on News Channels , if possible .. :D

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    1. I wish I could accede to that request, Jack :) Ad.s I cannot avoid since they intrude into the movies that I watch on TV. I avoid News like the plague :)

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  9. And what I am not able to understand is that why would a man jump off a cliff into water without taking off his clothes, especially when he is Hrithik. Maybe they did not pay him enough.

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  10. hehehee..super post!!!

    forget about us.... they are doing so much towards the service of our kids....they are teaching them how they can become superman and fly when they eat some supposed-to-be-healthy chocolates....how they can become smart enough to be able to make fun of some colony uncle and say "du kya?" etc etc....

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    1. I hope none of those kids are in my colony :)

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  11. I think advertisement industry has long crossed the stage of novelty and are desperately trying gimmicks to maintain relevance with ludicrous results that you nicely bring out.

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    1. ThanksTF! Long live the ad.s as long as they will continue to provide me fodder for blog posts :)

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  12. I remember that lady pulling the truck with her hair! The ad agencies are forced to think different i suppose...And God! They do come up with crazy ideas!

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