Integrated Marketing Communication

CIA II

Controversial Advertising

Kama Sutra Condoms

Submitted By

Group 18

Vidhi Vankani – 0921159

Prithish Ghosh – 0921023

Sahil Gupta – 0921228

Chetan Narela – 0921007

Simranjit - 0921460

Kamasutra Condoms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcqYZ3Fs6yU&feature=related

A product that has always been on the crosshairs of regulators is condoms. For a copywriter, it is quite
challenging to churn out subtle ads for male contraceptives, when the nature of the product itself is explicit.

In the not-so-innocent ad of 1990s - The steamy and sexy commercial featuring Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson
was a little to hot to handle for the legal authorities and was instantly banned. Pooja Bedi's seductive shower that
attracts Marc Robinson was all a bit too much to digest and the commercial was banned.

 The brand broke into the scene with a controversial campaign featuring Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson.
 The ads became an instant hit as well as a controversy because of the sensual visuals.
 The so called Moral police brigade cried foul.
 The ads were instant hit and the sales soared.
 Consumers started using the acronym KS for this brand.
 The ads gave lessons of Kamasutra postures and customers loved it.
 The campaign had its fair share of problems.
 The tvc was not allowed in National channel and the campaign was restricted to print.

Advertising History of Kamasutra Condoms

Kamasutra condoms popularly known as KS are a disruptive brand in the Rs 110 crore condoms market in India.
Launched in 1991 by JK chemicals, KS shot into prominence by differentiating through breakaway positioning.
Kamasutra was the first brand to position this product category away from family planning. The brand broke the
lazy lull marketing in this category by becoming bold and controversial. All the campaigns for this brands were
different, memorable and clutter breaking.

For a bold brand like KS, the opportunity to create waves in the market was immense. The brand was aiming the
target segment of youngsters below 25 (unmarried), College students and young professionals. That TG was a
risky proposition at that era because Sex was a taboo... But the brand was able to become relevant to the TG
with its boldness and iconoclastic stands.

The Pooja Bedi campaign was followed by campaign featuring famous models like Anu Agarval and Viveka
Babajee. The brand used the tagline “For the Pleasure of Making Love" emphasizing the brand as an enhancer
of pleasure (emotional) rather than a family planning tool (rational)

Later the brand became lazy with no promotions for more than 2 years. There was no need to, because company
were flush with orders from government and other NGOs so why waste money building the brand?
The brand took a different mode during 2003. It is a kind of repositioning where the brand shifted gear from
sensuality to suggestive humour. According to reports, KS was running on the magic of Pooja Bedi and slowly
the brand was becoming stale. And the competitors were imitating the sensuous imagery thus differentiation of
KS based on visual imagery becomes irrelevant. Since the TG was youth, humour was the right way to get into
their frame of mind, especially regarding the subject of sex. Thus came a series of ads with the new tagline
“What are you thinking of?"

The ads were funny and gave the brand a fair share of mind. The ad is based on the insight that
men will always have sex playing in their minds... These thoughts are triggered by simple visuals or sights and
this insight was bought in a perfect way by these ads.

2006 again saw the brand changing its communication. The brand adopted the tagline "What do you want to be
tonight?” The ads talks about couple playing out their fantasies, another extension of the initial positioning
platform.

The campaigns are much bolder than the previous ones and I have a feeling that the TG has changed from youth
below 25 to much older audience (and married).

What ever be the campaigns, still this category is in the closet bought, secretively with only a fraction of
customers experimenting with the variants or for that matter discussing this category even with their friends.
But the potential for this category is huge and that too in the premium segment. KS has shown the way to build a
different brand...

Analysing the controversy

The television, or the idiot box, as it is known today, came into existence in the '50s. The television is sometimes
said to be one of the most effective business strategies ever created. Imagine, from the salesman's point of view,
they would have an entire nation watching and listening closely to every word uttered for a set amount of time. 

Needless to say, the television exposed us to media like never before, bringing foreign worlds, fantastic ideas
and advertisements to our living room. Television advertising is generally a thirty second audio visual clipping
telling us the features and advantages of a particular product. Since the time span of an advertisement is so less,
the advertisement should always be exciting, interesting and get the point through immediately. If we marry the
concept that advertisements are always time bound and that human psychology is always attracted to
controversy, we get the perfect advertisement, not good advertising, not bad advertising, but perfect advertising -
controversial advertising.
Controversy in television advertising can be related to anything, the religion, culture, general opinion. Most often,
the controversy will revolve around the baser inclinations, like sex. A major percentage of advertisements for
condoms, sexual objects and, to an extent, personal care products like deodorants and perfumes, tip toe on the
thin line between intelligent advertising and controversial advertising.

The ad was made and aired during 1990s. This was a time when Indian audiences were very naïve. Sex was
extremely taboo and anything a little too sensual would also be frowned upon. However the problem that the
advertisers faced was that individually majority of the audience (especially the male ones) did enjoy the ad.
However owing to social pressures, no one actually came to acknowledge it. The advertisers on the other hand
were more open to experimentation and didn’t hesitant in the use of bold imagery in ads. The entire industry was
in a state of transition as increased exposures to foreign works seem to be inspiring the ad makers in our
country. But unfortunately the audiences and authorities refused to accept it.

The ad shows a very bold image of Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson getting very intimate. The setting of the scene
that takes place in a shower adds to the boldness of the image. Probably the absence of an obvious reference to
the product in this particular ad was one of the reasons why it brought the wrath of the authorities. Also the
overall story line with Marc Robinson shown in a boat and then being drawn right into a shower seemed a little
too fantastic. The advertisers in a fit to be more creative and arty got a little carried away. The ad was viewed as
an extremely bold and obscene exhibition of intimacy and was considered to not having any connect with the
product. It seemed to promote sex more than the use of condoms. And finally the level of explicitness of the ad
seemed to be violating a number of the codes of the ASCI.

The Advertising Standards Council of India Code

THE CODE FOR SELF-REGULATION IN ADVERTISING PERTINENT EXTRACTS

Adopted by THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS COUNCIL OF INDIA under Article 2(ii)f of its Articles of
Association at the first meeting of the Board of Governors held on November 20, 1985 and amended in February
1995 and in June 1999.

Declaration of Fundamental Principles

This Code for Self-Regulation has been drawn up by people in professions and industries in or
connected with advertising, in consultation with representatives of people affected by advertising and
has been accepted by individuals, corporate bodies and associations engaged in or otherwise
concerned with the practice of advertising with the following as basic guidelines  with a view to
achieve the acceptance of fair advertising practices in the best interests of the ultimate
consumer:

 To ensure the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made by

advertisements and to safeguard against misleading advertisements.           

 To ensure that advertisements are not offensive to generally accepted standards of

public decency.  Advertisements should contain nothing indecent, vulgar or repulsive
which is likely, in the light of generally prevailing standards of decency and propriety, to
cause grave or widespread offence.

 To safeguard against the indiscriminate use  of Advertising in situations or of the

promotion of products which are regarded as hazardous or harmful to society or to
individuals, particularly minors, to a degree or of a type which is  unacceptable to
society at large.

 To ensure that advertisements observe fairness in competition so that the consumer’s

need to be informed on choices in the market-place and the canons of generally
accepted competitive behaviour in business are both served.   Both the general public
and an advertiser’s competitors have an equal right to expect the content of
 advertisements to be presented fairly, intelligibly and responsibly.   The Code applies to
advertisers, advertising agencies and media.

 
Responsibility for the Observance of this Code

The responsibility for the observance of this Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising lies with all who
commission, create, place or publish any advertisement or assist in the creation or publishing of any
advertisement. All advertisers, advertising agencies and media are expected not to commission, create,
place or publish any advertisement which is in contravention of this Code. This is a self-imposed discipline
required under this Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising from all involved in the commissioning, creation,
placement or publishing of advertisements.

This Code applies to advertisements read, heard or viewed in India even if they originate or are published
abroad so long as they are directed to consumers in India or are exposed to significant number of
consumers in India.