New Cadbury Silk Ad: Dirty

If you watch TV in India, I am sure you must have watched this new Cadbury Silk Ad. It features a lady ‘eating’ Cadbury Silk chocolate. To say she is eating is a simplistic statement because she is basically ‘playing with’ the chocolate. That was perhaps what the ad-gurus wanted to make out – that even though you are grown up (all ladies featured are not kids or even teens), you can still “play with” chocolate. Perhaps you were not allowed by your parents to play with (which means mess up) chocolate when you were kids, and now that you are grownup and can spend money (these chocolates are not usual Cadbury Daily Milk but costlier ones without much value add) you should use the opportunity to rub yourself with chocolate now! Sounds great? Not really!

Who in his or her right mind plays with chocolate (or anything for that matter) in this manner? It looks too muddy and unclean! In one ad, the lady drops the chocolate on her clothes and then goes on to lick it; the chocolate keeps dropping everywhere and she goes licking everywhere just like dogs and cats! 

Even the lyrics playing with this ad is not appropriate for being played at all places; the lyrics as follows:

"Kiss me, Close your eyes

Miss me, Close your eyes

Kiss me

I can wet your lips, and your fingertips

And happiness, in your eyes

Kiss me, Close your eyes

Miss me, Close your eyes"

One of my colleagues in office has made this the ‘ringtone’ of his cell phone and it sounds weird every time in a professional environment! 

I think the most mediocre ad-men would use such insinuating and overt tricks to sell some more chocolates or get some more eyeballs. Not only is the song played with this ad is overt, the visual showing a lady messing up with chocolate is filthy and I am surprised how this ad is being played day in and day out on all TV channels! 

I would request Cadbury to stop this series of ad immediately and get back to serious business. I understand Cadbury’s need to position its product for the grownup customers as against for children alone but it does not need such sly tricks. Before this, Amitabh Bachchan was featured in a series of ads and he was positioning Cadbury as an essential part of “family” celebrations; which was good. If Cadbury is bothered by the continuous trend of gifting “imported” chocolates especially by the generation X and Y, it should improve quality of its chocolates and packaging to get the sales. I think none of those imported chocolates advertise such filthy ads and yet get the premium customers, so Cadbury should also focus on the “real” reason why people choose an imported chocolate over its Silk brand of chocolate. And making it “softer” like silk does not really help. If Cadbury does some market research to find out what really Gen-Y wants in a chocolate he or she chooses for girlfriend or boyfriend, it will get to know the real aspects to improve. It will save the company from some hard earned money and also criticism from sensible TV viewers who find its Ads annoying!

- Rahul 

Note: Views are personal and do not represent views of any organization associated with the author. [Detailed disclaimer]