Frontline ·
An ambitious history of Indian advertising
Ambi Parameswaran’s 10th anniversary edition of Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles on the history of much feted creative ad work and long-lasting client-agency relationships is now all the more relevant with a new chapter on the fragmented mediascape we live in.
A few days ago, a friend shared some pictures from our college days on a WhatsApp group. I was struck by how we were all in trousers. Not a pair of jeans in sight. Coincidentally, I had just been reading Ambi Parameswaran’s history of Indian advertising: Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles. In the book, he talks about a hostelmate at IIT Madras who was the only one in the whole institution to own a pair of Levis. How much our world has changed.
Today, we are at the threshold of a sci-fi-esque world of hyper-targeted messaging, virtual screens, and neuro marketing campaigns for everything from hi-res phones to low-waist jeans. Algorithms seem to know we need something even before we do. A remarkably well-timed ad pops on our timelines, and we dutifully click all the way through to the payment page.
Is studying the history of our advertising, then, even relevant? Are Complan Boy, Rasna girl, Santoor mother, and Dairy Milk dancer anything more than fragments of nostalgia? When the family no longer sits around a TV at an appointed time, devouring whatever broadcasters beam for them, does a case study of a once-beloved bar of soap even matter? When newspapers and magazines are no longer handed down in a choreographed ritual, from the head of the family to the last minion, do print ads from the past deserve any attention?
