The ad goof up exposed the lethargy of DAVP(Directorate of Audio- Visual And Print). This ad faltered on 2 aspects –

1. Carrying a photo of former Pakistani Air Chief Marshal, Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed. Lots of article is available on web for this thing and I am not going to elaborate more on this.

2. And most Importantly, why on earth did an ad which meant to prevent foeticide and celebrate girls day did not carry any female star other than Sonia Gandhi and Krishna Tanth.

The ad showed kapil dev and other sons of soil. Wouldn’t it had been better if it had showed some female virtuosos like Kiran Bedi, Indira Nooyi, Kalpana Chwala. The message of the ad was very banal – “ Suppose your mother was killed before she lived”. Its like indirect marketing – asking people suffering from dental problems to buy certain toothpaste because you are getting tooth brush free with it, and not concentrating on the medicinal value.

In a country where the girl child is killed mainly for dowry purpose this type of advertisement certainly doesn’t work. It would have been better if DAVP would have distributed books among the worst affected region with heroic saga of great women. I think this is the best ad which “promotes” female foeticide because we look at immediate gain not which is destined to happen in future.

And now one more question arises, shouldn’t Govt. Agencies be given a professional touch??

Consider the following facts-

1. In 08-09 Govt. expenditure in print media was 277.35 crore in print media alone.

2. The ad for national girls day could have costed any way between 5-10 crore for leading dailies in India.

3. Even Cola companies have comparable print media expenditure and they are managed by professionals.

With such goof-ups and such imbecilic approach, I certainly think its time to involve professionals In DAVP.