Bhartendu's stage is on fire,
Distraught, in English,
People are running away.
– Byomesh Shukla in Aadat
Indian television serials are a lot better these days. They are skilfully scripted, carefully produced and cleverly stretched to last months, even years. Even
more interesting, the commercials that accompany them are still more slick, more entertaining and retain their sparkle longer. Why so? Analysts offer an interesting explanation. Advertisers spend more money for the production of a one-minute spot than the production cost of several episodes of a soap opera. Copywriters are better paid than scriptwriters. In terms of time spent, actors receive more money for appearing in a commercial than they do for appearances in tele-serials. Advertising professionals that oversee the production of commercials are much more demanding than programme executives. Most of the time, anchors nowadays do not even need to say, "Don't go away". Millions wait for Juhi Chawla's current tease in the "Kya Family Hai" series of their own free will, and never get tired of Amitabh Bachchan's childish pranks for Dabur products.
Ads sell desire. Sometimes the object of desire is beyond the means or liking of the target audience. When that happens – and marketers monitor consumer reaction quite closely – alternatives are offered with new, improved or affordable tags. The idea is to let the buyer feel that his concerns are paramount. In the end, we do not buy things because somebody is telling us to do so; we acquire the advertised product or service because we want it, we need it, and finally, we cannot do without it. That is the way advertising works. That is also the reason the market demands that every household have a colour television. Medium becomes the message when everything the television shows is something for sale. It is not a coincidence that there are more Indian families with TVs than those with access to safe drinking water or modern toilet facilities.