Ad(Non)Sense

Sometimes i wonder whether the TV commercials really do their job of reaching the people at all.
Most of the times , the commercials are shot in either English or Hindi.Here, I am talking about the Indian commercials alone.When these commercials get translated to other regional language versions, it is vital for the makers to make sure every aspect of the commercial has been tuned in such a way that it can be related to the local flavor.I observed some of the ads and felt it was utterly stupid and the localization was completely pathetic.


The Motorokr ad featuring AB jr is one such case of localization gone terribly wrong.The funkier alter ego of AB jr jumps out of his shirt and demands to play music.When the phone starts playing the peppy Appdi podu podu Tamil song, the funky fellow says "Come on AB , Shake a li'l" to the serious dude.It was a nice one.But , when i saw the Tamil version , the catchy line has been messed up as "Come on AB! குலுக்கு கொஞ்சம் !".Is it due to the arrogance to have ignored the regional touch or result of pathetic linguistic skills?I feel such lines do not need translations at all.Not that the regional audiences are so unaware of English.


Another one is some kitchen cleaning liquid MNC brand.A lady struggles hard to remove the greasy stains from the stove and cries out desperately for some help.That time , a super hero (Obviously with the product name as his own) appears and in no time he makes the stove as good as a new one.At the end , the super hero hears some other lady's shout for help, and flies away , saying "Gotta Go now!". Again , in Tamil , he says "எனக்கு போகணும் ". Duh.. We say this only when we need to go to the loo.So much ignorance of the local flavour , huh?


Garnier products is another one where the punch gone wrong in localization.Garnier has a tag line as "Take care", which i guess, is chosen due to the phonetic similarity and aptness with their product goal. When this is translated to Indian languages , it should have remained the same or at least they should have chosen something in the local language which is as catchy as the original. Neither was done in this case.The gals say "பத்திரமா பாத்துக்கங்க " in Tamil and "अपना ख़याल रखना " in Hindi.What are you selling? A Paracetamol Tablet or a beauty product?


When one focuses in the line by line translation of the text, the real essence , and eventually the objective is lost.Even in that case, one needs to have both the linguistic skills and also the awareness of the target consumers to a greater extent.As an advertising firm , the focus should have been on making sure the product is being promoted with the right essence uniformly across various platforms. In the above cases, i guess the guys were busy chasing the smaller fish , failing to notice the bigger fish that swam by.