Ad-vocate

If there was one thing i dearly missed in my soujourn in manipal, it was the television. One month of domesticated life however has convinced me otherwise. I somehow lack the patience to sit and watch anything on television. Just when it starts to interest me there is a commercial break. And what irks me even more is the quality of ads that are aired. Here are a couple of ads that i believe should not be aired. It could be hazardous to the advertising industry ! These ads could possibly drive away some prospective ad film directors or copywriters to other more lucrative careers or let young creative impressionable minds overlook advertising as a satisfying career.
Firstly theres this undergarments ad that features a physically challenged kid who decides to participate in a race competing with other kids. Once the race starts the kid loses his crutches and falls down. The helpless kid summons daddy dearest. I'd imagined some comic book hero who appears wearing his underwear on the outside. After all, it is an undergarments ad. But hey! who is this? is it a man? is it superman...no its Salman khan! And the buck "or shall i say black buck" does'nt stop here. For some godforsaken reason he rips his shirt off, picks up the kid and starts running,eventually diving at the finish line a-la-rhodes and emerging the winner. humm! the mere fact that i cannot recall the name of the brand seems to defeat the purpose of making the ad.besides i have committed it to mind for its preposterity. Are these ad makers underestimating the intelligence of its consumers?
there is another brand which features ads which are high on pot. one of these harpic type brands which needs to exhibit a pot-pourri of toilets that do not use the product. and suddenly a salesman from the company turns harry potter and uses this magic potion which turns the toilet sparkling white! tasteless to say the least!
now there used to be these itch guard ads which were very disgusting. these ad makers seem to have come of age by shedding the " an itch in time saves nine" paradigm. these guys literally started from scratch and what materialised is an ad thats very subtle but effective. the harpic ad makers better take a good look lest their ads are flushed out of television!

In my good books...

Here's the list of books I read in the month of July.

The Jungle books by Rudyard Kipling.*
Geetanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
How to be good by Nick Hornby
Life of Pi by Yann Martel*
Matilda by Roald Dahl*
How to Advertise By ....
Airforces of the World By David Wragg

Fables by Bill Willingham which includes
Legends In Exile (issues 1 to 5)*
Animal Farm (issues 6 to 10)*
Bag 'O Bones (issue 11)
A Two-Part Caper (issues 12 and 13)
Storybook Love (issues 14 to 17)
Barleycorn Brides (issue 18)
The Last Castle
March of the Wooden Soldiers (issues 19 to 21 and 23 to 27)*
Cinderella Libertine (issue 22)
War Stories (issues 28 and 29)*
The Mean Seasons (issues 30 to 33)
Jack Be Nimble (issues 34 and 35)
Homelands (issues 36 to 38 and 40 and 41)*
Meanwhile (issue 39)
Arabian Nights (and Days) (issues 42 to 45)
The Ballad of Rodney and June (issues 46 and 47)
Wolves (issues 48 and 49)
Happily Ever After (issue 50)

Hitman by Garth Ennis which includes
Vol. 1: Hitman
Vol. 2: 10,000 Bullets

Marvels By Kurt Busiek *

Its very unlikely I'll better this in August. The ones with the * are highly recommended.