Butterly Offensive

On its 60th anniversary, adman RAHUL daCUNHA explains why Amul doesn’t really butter up India

TODAY IS Tuesday morning. Actor Shiney Ahuja makes the headlines – he may have just raped his maid. The question before the Amul creative team at daCunha Communications is: Should Amul walk away or comment? And if we do, what angle do we take? What tone of voice? This is the dilemma we often face with Amul.

The product has just turned 60, but the advertising campaign began in 1966 when my father, Sylvester daCunha, found himself searching for a medium to reach the masses, a way to address mothers but also appeal to children. Together with his art director, Eustace Fernandes, they hit upon a little polkadotted cartoon moppet with the line “Amul – Utterly Butterly Delicious.” Initially, the hoardings were butter specific. In the 1970’s, they began saying more. Over the last 43 years, the polka dotted Utterly Butterly Amul girl has become a social commentator. One that people look to for her take on life. And the hoardings have become a comic, yet knife-edged reflection of our times.

Cut to 1993. I join the campaign. Huge shoes to fill. Each week, my writer Manish Jhaveri and I discuss the hot topics from politics, TV, sports or movies. The greatest challenge is to find a single issue the entire country is talking about, that will be relevant across the nation, urban and rural cities, north and south. Sometimes, we have to be careful while being satirical; but I have realised over time that I have no problem pissing off someone who has pissed off India.

So when there was suspicion of Jagmohan Dalmiya being possibly corrupt, our hoarding asked: “Dalmiya mein kuch kala hai?” It had high impact; people were amused. Dalmiya wasn’t. He made his objections vocal, but we stood our ground. When the 26/11 Mumbai attacks happened, we felt the urge to take a stand. We showed politicians hiding behind black commandos and asked: “Will the real terrorist please stand up?” There were some who said we shouldn’t take on the politicians, but then, India is a dark country and we have to explore the darker side. If something serious happens that impacts society, Amul has to touch upon it. So after the Satyam scam, we ran “Satyam Sharam Scandalam.”

At times, there are fine lines. During the abortion controversy, our hoardings supported the woman’s right to choose. Yet, something upset her. She wanted to be left alone. I realised then the level of responsibility this hoarding has. It’s gone beyond selling a brand to being a social commentary on India. It has a duty to tackle issues responsibly and effectively.

In the last 40 years, we’ve put up 6,000 hoardings. The most memorable ones for me are “Enr on or off?” about Enron; “Victoria Terminated?” when VT station had a name change; “Jhootha kahin ka,” when a reporter threw a show at George Bush and “Pow Bhaji” when bowler Harbhajan Singh slapped his colleague Sreesanth.

Sixty years since Amul first began, it now symbolises a sense of trust and responsibility. India has grown up with it. This is by far the longest running campaign in the history of India – actually ever. The question is where do we go over the next 50 years. The task is to keep the ideas witty and the commentary on a knife-edge, relevant and fun.