THIS IS why we see television commercials where groups of teenagers join in chorus to extol the virtues of the product be it the mobile phone or motorbike or a soft drink. The jingle, ‘har ek friend zaroori hota hai ...’, of Airtel or the ‘hum mein hai hero’ of Hero Honda motorbike or the one about the soft drink ‘Coca Cola’ go side by side about the one of ‘Go Indigo’ low cost airline.

One recalls an earlier commercial about the soft drink Pepsi and its ‘yeh dil maange more’ in which a whole bunch of school kids joined – all wore the mask of Sachin Tendulkar.

These reveal the gradually changing trends of TV commercials. At one time, animations used to be quite popular – remember the ones about the monkey that stole a cell phone or the one about the ape-turned-human and donkey combination in the ‘dimaag bi batti jala de’ ad for ‘Mentos’, a brand of toffee. Then all those ZuZu ads of Vodaphone during the IPL matches – they were real gems and a treat to watch.

What could be the reasons behind such diverse tastes in the advertising world - could it mean real efforts by some advertising agencies to promote creativity or is it a tool to blunt the cutting edge of exorbitant rates demanded by models and supermodels.