Social in December

Come December and creative folk across agencies are assailed by huge bouts of socially responsible feelings. A sudden urge envelops them to set the world right. More pressing is the fact that these urges have to be fulfilled by December 31 (the cut off date for most advertising awards.) Suddenly copywriters see red if there is less green, their creative juices flow relentlessly as they urge you to wear condoms, cubicles fog up with smoke as you are asked to quit smoking and long evenings are spent at the corner beer bar as newer ways to prevent drinking and driving are mulled over.

The list is enormous: guthka needs to be spurned, seals need to be saved, the girl child needs to be protected…there isn’t a single worthy public service cause that escapes the conscientious eyes of our creative departments in the final month of the year.

Does crime really drop in December? Do paan shops register a shocking decline in cigarette sales? Are countless saplings planted in the last week of the year? I would assume the answer would veer towards the negative. Perhaps the reason for this is that most of this phenomenal year-end outpouring of social sensibilities finds a 60 cc outlet in publications like Assam Tribune, Thane Chronicle (actual names withheld on request) or in any favour that a friend in the media department can wangle for you. (It is also worth noticing the deep camaraderie that the creative guys have for their media brethren in the second half of every December.)

All this begs a question. What if more and more writers and art directors create communication that genuinely tries to bring a social concern into sharp focus, without the sole aim of entering it in the public service category of the next awards show? To be allowed to do creative work is a gift. One is given the opportunity to shape the thoughts of millions. The power to influence the behavior of maybe an entire nation. That indeed is a huge and precious responsibility. So why not accord that responsibility the respect it deserves? Why not do more and more of genuine public service communication, in partnership with genuine clients, to bring discernible relief to the needy. Or to offer inspiration continuously, instead of just at the year’s end?

Having said that, my favorite public service ad still happens to be the one in which the old, lame cobbler proudly struggles onto his one good leg as jana gana mana plays on his battered transistor. The setting of the ad is wonderful…just an ordinary street, where ordinary things are happening on an ordinary day. Then the rain comes pouring, and as everyone is concerned with just running for cover, something extraordinary happens. The old cobbler, battered by life, handicapped forever, stands the tallest as he salutes the national anthem in the blinding rain. What is most touching is that his heroic act inspires only the urchins on the footpath next to him. It is a communication that can stir anyone and bring a lump to your throat, on any day that you see it. Not just in December.

(The author is National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom)