A bucket full of emotions

The Indian advertising industry is experiencing a paradigm shift in communication patterns. From being superlative and extravagant, the industry has moved on to being more realistic and practical; and this change is a product of the collective evolving perception of admen and brand leaders. One such advertisement by Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) India is a convincing representation of friendship.

Titled ‘KFC Friendship Bucket’, the ad is a simple conversation between two friends; of course over a bucket of delicious fried chicken. What makes the ad stand out among the rest is featuring a differently-abled character.

With over 6.4 lakh views on YouTube already, the ad by the American fast food giant shows how one friend translates other’s sign language and the conversation ends in a feel-good emotional rush with the voiceover - “Dost jitney alag hote hain Friendship utni kamal ki hoti hai.” The takeaway from the ad was simple and straight – different but together.

It is not just this ad from KFC that chronicled a realistic story and invoked emotions in us; many brands have time and again believed in injecting emotions through heartwarming advertisements. Nestle sketched an uplifting story of a stand-up comedian who stutters.

Nescafe shows, how a struggling stand-up comedian molds his stuttering into a unique style of narration “bu…buu…buffering”. This one is our favourite. Another similar ad by Google India is the story of Amit Tiwari, who is visually challenged.

Google has documented Amit’s journey from being subject to corneal dystrophy to recovering his eyesight through an operation. The ad signs off as Amit glances through his family’s images on Google Photos and sheds tears as he looks at his late dad’s photograph.

Throughout, the ads have been portraying unlikely but realistic scenarios. Although we encounter a lot many differently-abled people day in and day out, we have not seen many such characters portraying a role in advertisements.

But things are changing for good and advertising is getting rather more transparent in depiction of our societies, in the depiction of our world. It takes more than just a story and a creative script to churn out such smart and vivid brand communication to people; it takes ownership of the philosophy by the brand itself. For instance, KFC employs many differently-abled people in its fast food chains; they believe it is very natural.

By: Tushar Kalawatia