Spoofing in advertising

For a moment it seemed a cool concept and a hilarious idea. But very soon I found it extremely dumb and stupid. Well… am referring to the new TVC of Nestle Munch chocolate.

The commercial clearly criticises the Cadburys ad of ‘Aaj Pehli Tarikh Hai’. The script goes like this… there is a guy who sits in front of a Munch chocolate wanting to eat it. The cuckoo from the wall clock comes out and says ‘Aaj Dhooseri Tarikh Hai’ and immediately another chap, possibly a friend jumps in and says “Arre Bhai, ye Munch hai, isse kisi bhi din kha sakte hain (My friend, this is Munch and it can be eaten on any day of the month)." Happy to hear this, the boy eats the Munch. The script is soo poor and the cast is even poorer.

The easiest thing to do is to criticise intelligent ideas. Am sure the agency JWT, would certainly deny the fact that this is clear spoofing. But in my opinion Munch's attempt has fallen flat and there isn't really much to counter the Cadbury campaign, which has proved to be clutter breaking. Spoofing, if not executed well, runs the risk of reminding the consumer of the original brand. In this case, it seems to have done just that.

Some facts: According to industry estimates, the chocolates segment in India is valued at about Rs 2,000 crore. About 71% of this market belongs to Cadbury and 25% to Nestle. The rest includes players such as Amul and others. In this Cadbury Dairy Milk has a share of about 35 % and Munch owns 10%.