What’s this Lallantop, ji?

This word lallantop is just not leaving my head. I am getting confused like hell. After studying all my life in Hindi heartland (Kaashi Hindu Vishwavidyala aka BHU was the icing on the cake) I thought I was an expert on all Hindi slang including the ones they use in the parliament. But alas this is not to be. When confused, who do you turn to these days (not God). Google. In both Hindi and English, Google was of no help at all. And when Google refused to help, I decided to share my frustration with you all this blog which goes beyond randomness.

So, for all of you who don’t watch enough of idiot box the word lallantop entered my lexicon thru an ad of a product called body warmer. I have not been able to understand this word and the ad either. Someone rightly tweeted, “I think admen have much higher IQ as I don’t understand what they want to communicate.” The ad is somewhat like this. There is a sick old man on the bed. Some people are rushing to his room. They come in and very apologetically want to do something evil. They take his wooden bed outside and burn it to keep themselves warm for the night. If they had this brand of body warmer then they wouldn’t need to burn wood and that is the lallantop idea! Pardon me for simplifying the ad. I couldn’t find the link for the ad on youtube, else I would have posted it.

It seems that I am not the target audience for body warmer as I live in Mumbai which is hotter in December than in Monsoon. Does that mean people in North (the brand’s TG) have a better sense of humour or higher IQ than me? What say you?

Maybe I am being hyper about some mass humour. Maybe I have become too much of a lifestyle person. Just because I don’t find the product being the hero I should not be critical of advertising. This is old school thinking. The grey in my hair is a problem. If the grey were to be cells instead of hair I think I would have been better off.

So, should we be against humour in advertising? Though most marketing guys, like me don’t like humour. If I don’t have a sense of humour, I believe people like me are in majority. So, you can rule out my entire ilk from your target audience. And like beauty humour lies in the “eye” of the beholder. So everyone doesn’t understand the joke in the same spirit. There are quite a few recent examples of advertising which beat my senses hollow. Have you seen one for a website where a teenager’s father is spewing cash and walking around like a zombie whilst the teenager is happily shopping? Or the one where a certain Nawab (star) wins a race easily because he is wearing the innerwear of the advertised brand. Or he finds the murderer due to the same reason.

I am not convinced that these ads build business. Even if they cut thru the clutter and are interesting. They can get you the awareness, but interest leading to desire and finally action are serious question marks. And they will be questions as the brand benefit is not even remotely clear. The link between the brand benefit and the advertised situation is tenuous, if any. Often, the advertiser and the adman are excited about the idea because they love the idea and not the consumer.

There are exceptions and exceptions prove the rule. Fevicol is one such brand where the situations are humorous but the brand and the brand benefit is central to the advertising. Or is it that they are not necessarily funny ads but just bring a smile to your face.

Nonetheless, it is still worthy to say can we have more of Fevicol kind of advertising.

Meanwhile, just sing-along with me, “what’s this Lallantop, ji....................”

You can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter