The Magic of Commercials

I like commercials, they make the world look so happy, clean, people with glowing flawless skin, shapely and healthy people, happy families who live in a house with a dog and a garden, where kids play in parks and listen to their mummies! Aah…commercials; thanks for making our messy world so perfect!

I like watching commercials more than the daily soaps for the simple reason that within a few seconds the commercials have the power to make you feel good. They have the ability to make you feel that you have the power to make your life better. They send a message that it is in our hands how much, when, where and how we put in the effort to look good, feel safe and fulfill our dreams.

Soaps and serials continue harping on the same situation without arriving at a solution. Probably to keep the viewers hooked on, they keep stretching a simple problem for a few episodes till everyone heaves a sigh of relief that ‘Ah, it’s finally over’. But commercials can do that within seconds.

As humans, each one of us is tackling with some problem or the other and we’re subconsciously on the look out for solutions. At times, commercials help in releasing of those pent up tensions and at times make us feel that yes, it’s possible to solve our problems too. I like commercials because they never show lonely people, they show people with friends, they never show abusive husbands, they show loving husbands and a loving family, they never show homeless or hungry people (unless it’s a charitable or a social message), they show everyone has a home and a family to come back to and there’s always enough to eat.

Commercials never show jobless people, they show youngsters with jobs. They show children respecting the elders and on the other hand, the elders are shown broad minded, apart from one advert which is CommunityMatrimony.com that tends to harp that only boys and girls from the same community can get good life partners and life happily ever after. No one asked the girl Nisha in the advert whom she’ll like to live with. They only show the hyper mother feeling very satisfied with herself, while admiring a photo of a boring looking middle-aged son in law, posing with a vibrant and young Nisha.

Commercials make the problems seem trivial and make us see that every problem has a solution only if we look in the right direction, ask the right people and get on with it. Commercials show us the way if we are lost, they give us options – if this doesn’t work, then try this, it help us see that there is light and even in the worst of situations one can pull through.

One such simple commercial comes from The Life Insurance Corporation of India – where an elderly widowed lady has managed so well to get her daughter married and live in a large house comfortably and respectably. In such simple language and with correct emotions the commercial tells us that even when you have lost a loved one, you can move on and be financially independent if you secure your future with a life insurance. This makes us feel safe and good that we too can be independent and take care of ourselves when we’ll not be as young and active as before.

Thank God for commercials, they make our messy world look so wonderful.