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Three TV commercials are presently being aired extensively in Star
News and ESPN. Four print advertisements have appeared in Business
Standard, The Hindu, The Statesman and Man's World.
Also an internet banner was put up on Mid Day's website www.mid-day.com
recently. The campaign was launched during the Adoption Awareness
Week in mid-November.
 
O&M's senior creative director Sumanto Chattopadhyay
says, “Running a campaign like this one is a challenge because
of the complete lack of funding. The NGOs involved simply do not
have the resources to pay for the development and media release
of advertising like this. I wish corporates would realise the importance
of issues like adoption and come forward to sponsor the public awareness
messages.”
Chattopadhyay says the ads were placed in spaces donated by the
owners of newspapers, magazines, TV channels, websites and hoardings.
He says an effort is being made to extend the television commercial
to several channels in January.
Commendably, those involved in the campaign - right from agency
executives, photographer to the media companies - haven't charged
any fees for the public service activity.
 “There
has been very little awareness about adoption in India. Indians
hold all sorts negative perceptions about adoption. The communication
strategy was simply to bring out the positive feelings inherent
to adoption. Our campaign differed from typical public service campaigns,
which tend to evoke shock or pity by portraying the sad plight of
those it seeks to help. Instead, we dwelt on the positive side,”
says Chattopadhyay.
"Also, experts say children should be told that they are adopted
while they are still young. Hence, the creative idea of using soft
toys representing animals caring for the young of other species
lend itself to explaining adoption to children in a gentle,"
Chattopadhyay offers.
Apart from working for a social cause, Chattopadhyay says the experience
of working without a brief or an aberration from hectic client-agency
activity was a welcome change.
“Unlike most commercial clients, NGOs usually do not get caught
up in unduly complicated and restrictive briefs. This results in
more creative freedom. And, of course, the social cause benefits
tremendously. These projects allow us to apply our creativity to
something a little deeper than, say, selling soap. It is truly a
win-win situation,” adds the creative professional.
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