Karthik S | beastoftraal.com

When Firefox made Tamilians happy!

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 by Karthik S

This is remarkable for a reason. I need to explain some context, for non-Tamilians, though. The first tweet is a nice pun, from the incredible world of Tamil memes. An old Tamil song featuring MG Ramachandran, from the 1956 film, Alibabavum 40…

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India’s peanut butter manifesto

September 22, 2018March 22, 2021 by Karthik S

The category of peanut butter has been languishing in India for the longest time. This, in a country that literally reveres its butter (Amul, of course). For the longest time (at least before liberalizaton), the only India-made peanut butter brand used to…

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A review of Jet Airways’ first, official statement on the ‘9W697 cabin-pressure’ mess

September 21, 2018 by Karthik S

The Jet Airways flight returned to the Mumbai airport an hour after take-off on Thursday (September 20, 2018) morning. The social media world was abuzz with videos from inside the plane, and a LOT of other updates from people and media. Jet…

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Reliance Mutual Fund’s Ganesha contest using promoted tweets

September 20, 2018 by Karthik S

Back in August, when I stumbled on a promoted tweet from Reliance Mutual Funds, I quite liked the fact that they connected the occasion (at that time, Raksha Bandhan) *and* their product together in a way that made sense. Their new series…

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Shockvertising morphs into… polarizeversing?

September 20, 2018 by Karthik S

Continuing from on shockvertising, but addressing 2 specific points on their impact and the reason for why they may be on the wane, thanks to a (which provoked me enough write this follow-up). All public service announcements (PSAs) are meant to create…

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Shockvertising

September 19, 2018 by Karthik S

World Heart Day is on September 29. Recalled this absolutely gross poster by British Heart Foundation for the 2006 World Heart Day, created by The Design Group. It is disgusting, arresting, and evokes a visceral reaction in viewers. Amidst advertising that uses…

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The ‘responsible’ ad by Huawei, for P Smart+ smartphone!

September 18, 2018September 18, 2018 by Karthik S

I was very, very surprised by this ad/video for Huawei P Smart+ smartphone. The video is by the creative agency Jung von Matt/Next Alster. It is very interesting for the way it goes progressively more worrying, with the surprising and responsible twist…

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