Saturday, January 25, 2014

‘Nakal Ke Liye Akal Chahiye’: Copycat Ad Of 'Rahul Gandhi'

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

Was that a copycat or a blunder  by Team Congress? In what is considered an embarrassment for the Congress, the party has come up with new print advertisement featuring Rahul Gandhi while the main slogan is exactly the same as a Gujarat government event logo from February 2011.

The ad featured the Congress vice-president with the phrase ‘Main Nahin, Hum’, the same slogan were used by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during his ‘better administration’ drive in Gujarat three years ago.
The red-faced Congress was left to nothing but explain the goof-up. “ It’s not the BJP copyright to use these words. They are similar to the Congress lead slogan — Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke sath. Does that mean that the Aam Aadmi Party should not have used that name while forming the party as the Congress had used that earlier?,” Mail Today quoted Ajay Maken, Congress communication chief, as saying.

Intended to position Rahul Gandhi as a people's politician in the face of Narendra Modi's "tea vendor vs shehzada (prince)" chant, the advertisement brought more embarrassment to Congress on its very first publicity blitzkrieg leading up to the 2014 elections.

It is learnt that the advertising agency Dentsu/Taproot was entrusted the job to make ads for the Congress. A leading daily chased Dentsu India seeking clarification on the goof up. However, the agency refused to comment, on account of a confidentiality clause in its contract with the Congress party.

Dentsu had won the Rs. 500-crore contract, along with JWT, for this campaign,

The Rs. 500-crore mega contract was given to Dentsu along with JWT. The duo had won the contract by warding off stiff bids from leading agencies such as Rediffusion Y&R,  Crayon, Percept/H, Grey Group, and Madison World.

Reacting on the print ad, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi released a statement accusing Rahul Gandhi of copying his theme.

"Nakal ke liye Akal chahiye (Even imitation needs brains)," said Shahnawaz Hussain of BJP adding "Congress hates Modi but loves his slogan. Rahul can steal a slogan but where will he get Modi's experience and the capacity to perform?"

Left red-faced, sources in the party said the particular advertisement is likely to be dropped. 

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