By Prof. Rasananda Panda, Prof. Prashanta Ch. Panda and Ms. Anushree Karani*

Caring father is back in the screen. The prime theme of the marketers and advertisers at least for time being is the caring  farther.  All these years, the star of the family got little space in the Ads,  And a good father had remained  one of the most unsung, upraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.

However, of late things have changed with the TV advertisements increasingly becoming father-centric. Companies are targeting young children and their dads and their silent mutual contributions for love and growth with sincerity. The main objective is to explore the untouched segment of influential belief for converting love to a value.

These are the new tangibles added to the lot many advertisements which builds on the mother child relationship and motherhood. This segment of “father-child relationship” and open expression of moments of trust built over years , is not much explored. Thus by providing creative space for society realism into an opportunity for mutual recognitions and rewards based out of realizing “father-child relationship”.

The ad of SBI life insurance on the theme “Are you a great Dad?” starts off with an army man back from duty waiting outside his child’s school to receive him. The son on seeing his father rushes into his arms. The ad continues with the father giving his son a piggyback ride, before the mother interrupts to get the child ready for school. This is followed by the child polishing his shoes, imitating his father’s every action at home and otherwise.

The ad film finally progresses to show the child about to fell while asleep on the sofa when reading a story book. The father gets there just in time to cushion his fall. The narrative explains how ‘great dads’ make sure to take care of their children even in their absence. The ad ends with a voice over saying, ‘zindagi haske bitayenge’. The advertisement clearly explains that a great dad always wants to protect his child and family. He also wants to shield his child and family even when he is not there. Insurance is a product which is always associated with the fear appeal. This ad of SBI insurance touched fear appeal by showing a caring and protective father and his feelings towards his son and family.

A father’s portrayal in television commercials is also going through major transformation. Fathers are shown friendlier. Time has changed. If one notices the advertisement of Bombay Dyeing, the teenage daughter buys a trendy bed sheet for his divorced father and when her father says that this is too much then his daughter convinced him by saying that “Dad divorce liya hein, sanyas nahi”.

The thought behind this ad is no longer a married woman with kids as a homemaker; a divorced father is also a homemaker whose teenage daughter is looking after the home. And with the pace of change in time the projection of father in advertisement has also changed. May be a reality of single child norm, late marriage, absence of joint family, working couples in social space has made fatherhood a multi-special skill-sets activities in day to day life.

Now fathers are not projected as an authoritarian and disciplinarian but as a role model of a child. In fact authors believe the act of role model has been the biggest stress reliever for all hardworking fathers in these cut throat market. The mark of a man is being partner in care matters more to man for completeness.

Ads cannot be in conflict of the social surroundings. Yes, role of a father has changed. The image of father as a villain in the household has slowly vanished. In the era of ‘90s the Raymond ads created a buzz and with the tagline of “A Complete Man’ they put a man and a father in different categories.

A father is wiping his tear when her daughter’s doli is going away. In those days crying man is not accepted in the society. In recent commercials, fatherhood is associated with the protection. In a HDFC Life insurance ad campaign, a little girl has an artificial limb and everyday her father helps her in wearing a ‘ghunghroo’ for dance class.

One day that girl herself wears ‘ghunghroo’ and performs in front of live audience. The father is happy that finally his daughter becomes “independent”. Here, father is shown as strength of pillar for his daughter. In the past there was hardly any celebration of fatherhood but now the concept of father-child relationship is gaining momentum and acceptance in the society.

Father-son relationship ads are providing useful insights. In a Tata Docomo advertisement, a modern father stand speechless when he tries to speak to his sixteen year old son about girls but his son without any inhibition replies “Ya sure Dad, what you want to know”. The ad end with the line some people say lot in just a little. These kinds of advertisements are referred as image makeover of ads for Dad. With the change in time the image of father is not strict and unfriendly. Father-daughter ads are triggering the emotional and trust aspects of relationship.

The Kalyan Jewelers ad as performed by Amitabh Bachchan and Manju Warrier as father and daughter, talks about trust in relationship. The jewelers store ad is not having single piece of jewelries in their promotional video. Here, Bachchan plays the estranged father as his daughter did love marriage against his wish. One fine day he gets a phone call from his pregnant daughter as she is in medical emergency and he takes her daughter to the hospital, accept the son-in-law and grandchild. Here comes a trust in relationship.

The reason behind these kinds of ads may be the change in the thought process in the society. The concept of masculine is vanishing. Actually this is not a western thought. In our scriptures, we are having the reflections of ‘Ardhnareshwar’ of lord Shiva- half man and half woman. A man has both masculine and feminine side. A man can also cry and express his emotions. A father has lot many emotions for his child and family. Father-child relationship is considered as friendly one and this is coming very strongly across the television commercials.

In addition studies do reveal that in recent time men are doing more shopping. Nearly, 50 per cent of the men’s personal care products are purchased by them directly. In addition, some marketers do say that portraying men as a nurturing and caring have a strong impact on the female buyers.

Needless to mention, dad-ads have the required sales potential!!!!

Rasananda Panda is Professor of Economics, Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad [MICA] / Prashanta Chandra Panda is currently Professor of Economics, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar and Ms. Anushree Karani is Research Assistant at MICA.