Begin Again With A Smile

It’s never too late to begin again with a smile! These three thought provoking advertisements from Colgate prove just that.

Advertisements are a wonderful form of mass media that act as a source of information, delivering content efficiently thereby inducing the desire of the viewers to consume the product.

The field of advertisement is becoming more innovative. It is able to create an impact on the minds of the viewers within minutes, even an hour-long movie fails to do so many times. Different companies have diverse strategies towards branding and advertisement of their product and services. Recently, Colgate –Palmolive is promoting a product with an impressive tagline “begin again with a smile” which is very women centric.

New beginnings…

A young couple is waiting at the orphanage premises for adoption. The wife is tensed whether she would make a good mother and she asks her husband the same thing. The small girl, whom they are supposed to adopt, is initially hesitant towards them.

But when this woman greets the girl with a smile, she reciprocates by calling her ‘ma’. The lady suddenly experiences an emotional connect, her tension disappears and a bright beautiful smile lights up her face denoting a new beginning.

If the child had not been a girl, the advertisement would have lost its purpose and if the woman had been the biological mother of the girl, this would have been another usual Indian advertisement. Thus, this is an out of the box thinking concept inculcating social responsibility.

Dealing with bullies with a smile

A mother drops her daughter to school and says “it is your first day of school, enjoy yourself”. When her daughter walks inside, three students almost threaten her by calling “chotta packet” and one of them asks her name. Instead of getting scared, she cutely manages the situation by telling her name, innocently lending her hand for a handshake with an enchanting smile. The three girls smile back and her mother is shown watching the scene with pride.

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Again the soul of this advertisement lies in all the 5 characters being female and the mother’s maturity of allowing her sweet little daughter to handle the situation completely by herself.

Finding courage to live life fully!

This is definitely a path breaking advertisement. An old woman in a restaurant is waiting for her children and grandchildren to join. They join her, yet, she is on the lookout for someone else.

After spending the lockdown alone, she realizes that she had been lonely throughout. All her life, she had been afraid of being judged but at one point, she overcomes her fear and decides to live again.

When the old man, the person for whom she was waiting for, arrives, there is a sense of confusion and uncertainty amongst others seated at the table. They don’t know what is going on till this old lady boldly raises her hand showing her engagement ring. That act is just overwhelming and romantic and she is sure to celebrate a new found freedom hence forth.

We may live in 21st century but most of the women are still unable to take decisions as per their desire due to the fear of judgment. The advertisement reflects how one has to come out of the traditional thinking.

The nationwide lockdown brought loneliness for everyone and it is reflected in the old lady’s loneliness. And her post-pandemic freedom is compared to the freedom from societal judgment. This advertisement neatly takes care of the emotions of an old woman and brings a smile on the face of anybody watching it.

Smile- it costs nothing

A smile is symbolic of hope, courage, confidence, and optimism. It is the best weapon to win everything in this world. There is no drama in the smiles of all the three ads. The challenging moments in the real life of women are well portrayed and the casting is just brilliant. Personally, I am curious to watch more stories from “begin again with a smile”.

Picture Credits:  still from a Colgate advertisement

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