50 Year's Journey

An icon of the sorts of modern India, the utterly butterly deliciously witty, Amul Girl has turned 50. The girl wearing a polka-dot frock, famous for poking fun at national events and personalities, first made an appearance in 1967. 

Some of her best spoofs will be featured in a special book that Amul is launching to mark the occasion. The book celebrates the journey of the little girl through the eyes of prominent writers, public figures and the subjects of the hoardings themselves.

All present-day news-makers, from President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama to actor Amitabh Bachchan, cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and even the industrialist Ambani brothers have been featured by the advertisements.

The Amul baby ads have often been described as one of the best Indian Advertising concepts because of their humor, with puns being its forte, and their penchant of picking up on current events to bring home a point.

Cool things about the Amul Girl.

• Amul butter had been selling in the market for 10 years before the Amul moppet was conceived.
• The ‘Utterly’ tagline was suggested by author Nisha daCunha, who is also the wife of Sylvester daCunha, the man behind the Amul butter advertising and chairman of daCunha Communications that has been handling the Amul Butter account for 46 years.
• The Amul girl was born in 1966 (that makes her 46 and not 50).
• The moppet was created by Eustace Fernandes, who was then the art director at daCunha Communications. Fernandes passed away in March 2010.
• The first of the ads featuring the girl in the polka dotted frock and a matching ribbon were not the huge hoardings that we are more acquainted with, but were put up on a few lamposts in Mumbai.
• The first ever hoarding featuring the Amul girl had her saying a bedtime prayer (see the ad below). Interestingly, in her first major appearance the Amul girl wasn’t in her trademark polka-dotted frock.

  

• There have been over 4000 Amul butter hoarding till date.
• Jagmahon Dalmiya had tried to sue Amul for Rs 500 crores for a hoarding that said “Dalmiya mein kuch kala hai? Amul Maska khao, paisa nahin’ but had other thoughts when the courts required him to deposit 10 per cent of the amount.
• The Ramalinga Raju (Satyam, Sharam, Scandalam) ad following the Satyam scam drew the ire of the Satyam board and they sent a letter demanding an apology else Satyam employees would quit consuming Amul products in protest.
• In April 1995 the Election Commission got an Amul Butter hoarding painted black. The ad showed Congressman in a tug-of-war with the hand symbol and the Commission interpreted it as a political advertisement.
• Pia Benegal, Shyam Benegal’s daughter had as a kindergarten student lent her voice for the ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’ ad jingle.
• The present Amul Butter cartoons are drawn by Jayant Rane.
• There are 90 Amul Hoarding locations across India. Amul Butter ads are also printed in 22 newspapers.

Watch below video for many of the ads over the years.

Much of the above Amul advertising trivia is from Amul’s India: Based on 50 years of Amul advertising by daCunha Communications (Rs 299). The book’s available on FlipKart and Amazon.