The Hindu caricatures politician at home; reminds clan to ‘Behave’ before youth

English daily The Hindu has launched another campaign, continuing with the theme of ‘Behave yourself, India. The youth are watching’. The campaign will straddle print, TV, cinema, OOH and social  media. The campaign will invite questions via social media, some of which will feature in the print ads.

The ad film created by Ogilvy & Mather depicts a politician behaving in an unruly manner at home, the way he is habituated to at work.

A middle-aged man in a white kurta is seated in his living room one morning, thinking about something. An older lady of the house walks by with an aarti (Hindu prayer ritual) plate. He throws a paper ball at her, which lands on the plate. Unmindful, she throws it away and continues with her ritual. He goes back to his thoughts when his son calls. The father screams into the phone and bangs on the coffee table, again without provocation. The acts bring a smile to the man’s face. His expression reverts to grim as a domestic helper walks in with tea – he throws a chappal at him, climbs on top of the coffee table, and starts speaking agitatedly. The domestic help ignores the man's behaviour. But watching him climb on and off the table while continuing to talk angrily (to no one in particular), his daughter asks her mother what’s wrong, even as the instrumental soundtrack of the bhajan Vaishnava janato starts playing in the background. The lady reveals that there’s nothing wrong - the man, a politician, is ‘just preparing for the budget session’. A super appears as the politician continues his ‘preparation’ from atop the coffee table: ‘Behave India, The youth are watching’.

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia, said, “With a huge youth population and our ambition to be a shining nation in the world, there is a great need for us older people in positions of responsibility to set a better example for the young.  I have closely followed cartoonists who have a very effective way of using satire to shame people. I know that campaigns cannot change behaviour overnight, but I would be very happy if some people are not able to sleep well for a few nights at least.”

Siddarth Varadharajan, editor, The Hindu, said, “The Hindu's ‘Behave Yourself, India’ campaign cherishes the spirit of parliamentary debate, which is the true test of a functional democracy. Every Indian has a right to be heard - but that right is only as effective as our ability to listen, engage and disagree courteously with each other. Sadly, the space for tolerance and free speech is narrowing in our republic. This is no surprise because many of our elected representatives - who hold a candle to the rest of society - have failed to debate policy and politics with their peers in Parliament in a civilised manner.”

He added, “Our campaign shines a light on the errant and discourteous politician, wedded to privilege and power, whose fate now lies in the hands of voters, many of whom are young and who will be exercising their franchise for the first time.”

View the print ads here:

 

 

Social media ad

 

Credits

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Executive chairman & creative director, South Asia: Piyush Pandey
National creative director: Rajiv Rao
Executive creative director: Joono Simon
Associate creative directors: Mridula Joseph, Binu Varghese
Creative controller: Deepan Ramachandran, Sanjana Mathur
Art director: Santhavadhanam
President: Simmi Sabhaney
Client services director: Karthik Hariharan
Account supervisor: Aruna Narsi
Account executive: Sneha Singh
Production house: Corcoise Films
Executive producer:  Cyrus Pagadiwala
Director (film): Prasoon Pandey