Animated Ash and Priyanka follow Mallika

First Mallika Sherawat, then Ash and now Priyanka. Animated versions of these actresses are now regularly featuring in advertisements. Every time a company is looking to create a brand value for a product, stars synonymous with the virtues that the brand is representative of, are roped in to create an impact on the audiences. While this is an age-old formula and its success rate is unquestionable, ad gurus are now taking things to a different level together. The best of Bollywood babes are signed up for promotions and what follows are animated advertisements featuring the actresses. It all started with Mallika Sherawat becoming the brand ambassador for ‘7 Up curvy’. The actress was seen getting transformed by genie Fido Dido into a curvy 7 Up bottle in a television commercial. The advertisement went on to become a hit and paved the way for a new trend wherein the beauty and aura of stars is coupled with digital techniques like animation to multiply the ad’s appeal factor. Recently, Sunsilk has come up with hoardings that feature Priyanka Chopra. The sultry siren’s photograph is superimposed with another digital image to create an animated look. Another brand that has been off-late using animated versions of Bollywood beauties to capture the attention of consumers is Lux. The brand has always signed in superstars with ultimate beauty to promote its range. But in the last couple of months, the brand signed up tinsel town’s two leading ladies – Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra – and developed ads with their animated versions. While we are not complaining as far we are wooed with digitalised ads that only glorify our stars, we doubt if the trend is based on some ad-survey that lead to the conclusion – the market value of superstars is diminishing. What surprises us all the more is why stars with larger than life appeals are succumbing to such techniques. Commenting on this, Aishwarya Rai, who was part of the Lux Aqua Sparkle advertisement, had once said, “It is really nice to see my animated version. I am quite excited about it.” Though we take the glamorous actress’s word for it, we choose to get an insight from a professional. Srikanth Srinivasmadhavan, General Manager - Skin Cleansing, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., the company that manages the Lux brand, says, “Execution of every advertisement depends on the campaign idea. As far as the Lux Crystal Shine campaign that features Priyanka is concerned, the proposition was ‘Beauty that blinds you’ along with the added advantage of luminous skin. For bringing this proposition alive, we came up with the idea of using neon lights. To integrate our brand ambassador Priyanka Chopra into these neon lights theme, we decided to make use of animation.” To put our faintest doubts to rest about whether Bollywood beauties will be reduced as bait for animated promotions, Srinivasmadhavan says, “Using animation is really not a strategy. It is a just another method for execution of themes that can be best exhibited through animation and digital processes."