Govt moves away from symbolism in ads about schemes for minorities

New Delhi, October 9: Under pressure to crack down on terror, and uneasy about rubbing minorities the wrong way ahead of elections, the Government has found a way to put across its message of giving minorities “a good deal and a fair chance” in its four and a half years in power.

Doordarshan has started airing 40-second advertisements issued by the Ministry of Minority Affairs showcasing the Centre’s scheme for minorites.

The five spots centre around characters such as Meenu Wadia (a young Parsi doctor), Parvinder Kaur (a Sikh pilot, inspired by Kalpana Chawla) and Abida (a Muslim medical student covering her coaching fees with Government assistance).

Under no-nonsense Secretary M N Prasad, a concerted effort has been made to do away with “overt symbols” like beards and topis to portray minorities, as was typical of government advertisements of the past. The new campaign shows them as very much a part of the mainstream.

Though the slogan, ‘Aap Badhenge, Desh Badhega (Nation grows, when you grow)’ is rather pithy, it also underlines the Government’s message of “inclusive growth”.

The advertisements are in Hindi and nine other languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Punjabi. While they are currently airing on DD, the Ministry hopes to be able to telecast its five spots on private channels as well from later this month.

The advertisements include one of the PM’s 15-point programme for minorities, while the rest talk about each of the scholarship schemes instituted by the UPA — the pre-matriculation, post-matriculation and merit-cum-means scholarship for minorities.

Amitava Mitra, the senior vice-president of Percept/H, the agency that has conceptualised the advertisements, calls it one of their best campaigns ever. Percept/H also made the Bharat Nirman campaign, released earlier this year to coincide with the IPL matches.

“Our brief was clear, to not use visual cliches. Even in the ambience, we have stayed away from mosques, churches and gurdwaras,” says Mitra.

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