Ahmedabad:
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan may have come under attack for calling Rahul Gandhi an 'Amul baby', but Amul, the leading dairy producer known for catchy ad campaigns, has lapped it up with a new advertisement whose punchline is 'They both are Amul Babies!'
Achutanandan had recently hit back at Rahul who had referred to the 87-year-old CPM stalwart's advancing age during a poll campaign, saying he had come to Kerala to campaign for 'Amul babies', as the Congress leader himself was an 'Amul baby'.
Quick to capitalise on the chief minister's diatribe, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) - which markets its products under brand name Amul - has come out with the ad conceptualised by Dacunha Associates, a Mumbai-based ad agency associated with the co-operative since 1966.
Known for its famous mascot the "Amul baby" with catchy punchlines and the longest running ad campaign ever, the GCMMF has come up with billboard advertisements and promotional posters covering all spheres of life be it cricket, politics, Bollywood, business or sports.
"Catchy advertisements are a part of our campaign on the hoardings. One topic is released nationally every week, while another is specific to the region of news-focus," a GCMMF official said, referring to the Ageless 'Utterly-Butterly' Girl who has been smiling down on every Indian, alerting all with current issues in a can't-help-but-smile 'one-liner'.
Rahul Gandhi has featured in Amul advertisements on a couple of occasions. The last time he became inspiration for Amul was when he travelled on a Mumbai local train; the catch-line was "Chalti Ka Naam Gandhi".
"We have got a very encouraging response from people from all walks of life to our campaigns featuring current news-makers and controversies. The feedback has been very positive to this unique concept," GCMMF Chairman Parthi Bhatol told PTI.
The Gujarat-based dairy giant has been making good the news and news-makers for its advertisement campaigns since 1966. The 'Amul baby" in the ad is a chubby butter girl usually dressed in polka dotted dress.
All present-day news-makers, from President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama to actor Amitabh Bachchan, cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and even the industrialist Ambani brothers have been featured by the advertisements.
Recently it put up billboards with the line Hazare Khwaishein Aisi in the wake of Anna Hazare's hunger strike over Lokpal Bill.
Butter Khana, not gymkhana! Amul for all genders, followed the incident where management of a Gymkhana in Mumbai threw out a trans-gender activist from the dinner-party hosted by one of the members.
The Amul baby ads have often been described as one of the best Indian Advertising concepts because of their humour, with puns being its forte, and their penchant of picking up on current events to bring home a point.