Ad SenseLess – Thums Down!

Let me clarify in the first go itself that this post has nothing to do against the famous Google Adsense. I myself stand by the effectiveness (Though I still can’t figure out who actually clicks those ads) of Adsense. On the contrary I intend to write my critical point of view on some ads that we see on television today. Ad Senseless will predominantly pick out those senseless ads that are stuffed down our throats. But sometimes, some good and innovative ads might find mention for not being senseless. But this Ad Senseless is intended to be a standard feature on 13^th Random featured randomly.

Having cleared that part let me move to the point that I intend to make through this post. It is about some Ads that I have come across on television recently. These ads are so senseless that I feel so inclined to comment about them here.

The first ad that I find senseless is Thums Up (the taste the thunder brand from Coca Cola). They have been advertising using star power and showing a desperate Akshay Kumar doing everything remotely possible to get his gulp of the ‘thunder drink’

The ad starts with Akshay recollecting his quick trip to pick up a bottle of the beverage. He jumps off buildings and stairways, lunging and running across seemingly impossible hurdles (it is on the lines of the new sport called Parkour as shown in numerous movies including the latest James Bond). Finally he lands on the middle of a road

where a van is seen hurtling towards him. He side-steps and reaches out to pick out a bottle of Thums Up from the moving van (which incidentally is one of those beverage delivery trucks).

Now what makes this ad so dumb is the way they portray Akshay Kumar running around for a bottle of Thums Up; even if it means serious bodily harm. I understand what the agency is trying to convey, that for a bottle of Thums Up, a true fan can go to any extent to get their hands on one.

What I fail to understand is, does the drink make you so ‘brainless’ that you are ready to jump of buildings and risk picking a bottle out of a moving van, or ramming oneself on to a wall? Won’t you rather just dial your nearest convenient store and order a bottle of the coveted drink. In fact you can get a 1 Litre bottle for less than a quarter of the cost of your hospital or funeral bill whichever is the earliest.

The ad proves nothing but the fact that the drink in question makes the person who drinks it so stupid and dumb that you will do anything suicidal to drink it. I guess that what most drugs do to an addict too. Hmmm…now coming to think of it, are they telling us that the drink is highly addictive…like cocaine!