Indian Men Wanted on Her Boat Party

This Ad caught my attention a few weeks back. At least 9 out of 10 times I choose to skip the YT PreRoll ads. Once in a while a brand makes that effort to make an ad which creates enough intrigue in the first 5 seconds for me to delay the 'skipping' routine. I must admit that I didn't even consider skipping this one. On the contrary, I remembered the Ad, the Brand, discussed it with friends, and any mention of AXE makes images from the boat pop up in my head. So far so good eh?

Is that the objective of the ads? Perhaps not..

None of the Ads actually made me consider calling the number. Yes it was a little intriguing but I never actually thought it's a 'real invitation'.

When I decided to write this article I called them and realized that the objective of this campaign is to drive sales as they want me to buy a can of AXE to participate. [I missed "Buy Axe" in the TVCs]

So where the first ad that I watched intrigued me, left an image in my head, made me shake my head to a nice tune which I now associate with AXE... It didn't quite make me believe in the invitation. However, things got worse with the following TVCs:

#1: Grizzly Bear Ad: One of the most common stereotype about Indian Men are the hair. It's definitely not a feature that the TG for the ad is very fond of.. so when the 'white women' call it manly... it just seems ridiculous if not offensive.

#2: Momma's Boy: Then they go on to take a shot on guys living with parents and watching soaps with their Moms. Here for a second I thought someone published the wrong ad creative. How could this have gone on-air?

What Indian Men want to know (Arnab style) is that how could AXE strip them of their manliness on national television and then ask them to go buy a can of AXE? What am I missing here that the brand managers saw? "In good humour" could be one argument but in that case no such call to action can be expected - "Buying to participate".

Some marketeers might argue that the product wasn't even present in the Ad but I don't see that as a problem. I think that was something that was innovative in this ad and it worked. Deodrant as a product is very common and everyone knows how to use it. Most brands talk about how it attracts women (perhaps done the most by AXE). Boat Party Campaign completely broke that deodrant ad routine. Perhaps this is why it got trolled and discussed (positive or negative).

The idea of the campaign was to entice Indian Men [with beautiful foreigners in Goa] and make them buy AXE in the process. A sales/sampling campaign which on the face of it looks alright. This campaign is not about a specific fragrance of AXE or its effect on women. However, it had to be believable enough to generate the sales. I don't know the response it got but I'm quite certain that better scripts would have led to a much better response. I'm sure Indian Men have some qualities which could have also been true as well as pleasant.

Verdict: Great concept got lost in translation

Movie Review: 2 States reinforcing stereotypes

Peach Tree Rating: 2.5/5

Cast: Alia Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh & Revathy

Directed By: Abhishek Varman

Produced By: Sajid Nadiadwala & Karan Johar

Studio: Dharma Productions

The promos, the hoardings and the extensive media coverage about 2 States did drive home the message - This movie is about a typical cultural divide 'North Meets the South'. The movie was exactly that. This, in my view, was a big flaw. We all go to watch more than what the promos & the entertainment section have already told us.

The movie starts off at the IIM A campus and if I don't go into the nitty gritty of the campus life then that part is somewhat relatable or at least comprehensible to a management graduate. Ananya played by 'Alia Bhatt' is that extremely gorgeous, smart [and surprisingly 'sorted' in this case] girl in a male dominated management school who everyone one [plans to] hit on. Why did she get interested in Krish played by 'Arjun Kapoor' is beyond me. Even if I attribute that to my own naivety.. I still did not see a smooth transition into a relationship that they would want to fight for... While it would have been interesting if the makers had exploited/used more of the IIM life in their story, I understand their need to 'focus' on some other aspects of their lives. However, by the end of the movie the shocking realization had hit me. They didn't 'focus' on anything except the stereotypes. There was no real meeting of the 2 States. The characters were as per popular stereotypes. Actually everything was...  Let's start from the beginning:

• The IIM Life: IIT Boys, One pretty girl, jealous classmates, Bad mess food, Great Job & then marriage. While they might not be incorrect examples but they're exactly what the masses think. Stereotype I
• The Families: Can it get more stereotypical than that? They just reinforced the stereotypes instead of showing the real picture. Will a Tamilian family get shocked by a Punjabi's behaviour - perhaps. Is that all to it -definitely not & vice versa. Stereotype II
• The MNC Jobs: At a time where fresh grads join work and wonder if this is what they put in all those years for - be it the lack of love for their work, 24X7 slogging or the inability to have ends meet.. These two seem to have the ultimate chill life as if they just got employed by EIL in the 70s. Did they even talk to a current IIM grad while making the movie?! Stereotype III

Many successful TV shows and movies encash on popular stereotypes but they eventually tend to break them at some point or in some ways. Here there wasn't even an attempt to do that... There was no attempt to show the reality.. Something Queen did fabulously despite the characters in that movie belonged to different nationalities.

The movie was funny in parts and Alia was looking stunning in almost every fame. To give her due credit she did pull off a modern, educated girl who's neither conservative nor spoiled. To walk that fine line (in Indian cinema) is applaud worthy. Ronit Roy was perhaps the only parent who was playing a character which was more than just his regional/cast traits. He was lucky enough to have a somewhat decent yet stereotypical back story to be able to showcase some additional quirks. Amrita Singh played the quintessential loud Punjabi Mother (a role that is becoming more and more common in Hindi Cinema). While she did a good job the writers are to be blamed for not thinking beyond Vicky Donor kind of humour. In the end if you think about it what new did you learn about either region? They just reinforced the popular stereotypes that are perhaps becoming less true in modern times.


Verdict: Can be watched for Alia if nothing else.