Advertisement- Fact or Fiction

PIA

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@Official_PIA

Just when you start missing it, we serve you a taste of home! A dash of salt and little bit of pepper, we tantalize your taste buds with our delicious meal to welcome the glorious morning!

Advertisements can be anything – classic, funny, entertaining, meaningful and memorable. They can evoke extreme reactions- fear, bliss, envy and anger. Some advertisements (and their campaigns) acquire cult status (our very own Amul). Some mascots have also endeared themselves to us and have demonstrated remarkable longevity, more prominent being Amul girl and Air India Maharaja.

In the above background, reaction of the Pakistanis to the recent ad of PIA is understandable. The above ad has been panned by Pakistani public and the reaction ranges from extreme sarcasm to anger against the national carrier for advertising “taste of home” by depicting the picture of baked beans, sausages and cheese omelette, all typically European/American food items! I have heard that following the adverse reactions to its ad, PIA has since withdrawn the ad.

But why such adverse reaction to relatively harmless ad that at least does not hurt the sentiments of any community? For once, the cuisine aboard a flight is meant for elite and upper crust business class passengers, who though mainly of the same origin as that of the airline (read Pakistani in this case), are a creed apart. For ordinary folks, it’s mostly a pre packed ordinary stuff, which is hard to consume and that too in full cost carriers, low cost only offering food at a price! Look at our own elite. Who is eating traditional breakfast items – stuffed paranthas, puris and halwa? Luckily some of the Indian cuisines are relatively healthier (read mainly South Indian cuisine) and idli, poha and sabudana are coming to rescue of some of us? But most of the elitist would normally eat muesli, salad greens, baked beans, a piece of grilled chicken or fish, eggs minus the yolk, juice for their breakfasts! Ditto other meals. Airlines are only advertising what the elite passengers require and demand and what precisely are they eating at home! We, generally train and bus and at best cattle class travellers, can only pan the elitist ad and claim that sausages and baked beans are not our food and we eat paranthas, curries and puris!

Are the companies not advertising the correct proposition or is the public at large reacting incorrectly is a question that will haunt the creators of advertisement content!