Aamir Khan lends presence to Incredible India

Incredible India has done what seemed incredible a while ago. The campaign by the Ministry of Tourism has grown in popularity over the last few years using the strength of power punched creativity in its messaging. Now, for the first time ever, Incredible India is being given a face – one which people recognise easily.
Two TV commercials for Incredible India, with Hindi film actor Aamir Khan starring as the face of India, have gone on-air recently. The commercials are a part of the ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ campaign targeting the domestic audience in the country.
One commercial opens with a scene showing a group of foreign nationals asking for directions to an area in India. Some rowdy tourist guides start harassing them with unpleasant remarks and gestures. Khan enters the scene and questions the tourist guides’ misbehaviour.
In retaliation, one of the perpetrators shouts out to Khan, “Teri kya behen lagti hai (Is she your sister)?” As a crowd gathers, Khan firmly explains that tourists are not only guests but a source of income for the country. Finally, he manages to swing public opinion to his side and the erstwhile impassive onlookers teach the offenders a good lesson.
The film wraps up on Khan voicing the tagline, “Aage badho, Virodh karo (Take a step forward, speak up)!” A screen shot of the Incredible India logo and the concept line – Atithi Devo Bhava – follow.
The second film depicts a couple who, in a romantic mood, are looking forward to ‘inscribing’ their names with a stone on a historic monument. Khan makes an entry and snatches away the stone from them, attempting to write on the man’s face. In a gesture of self defence, the man steps back. Khan informs a group of children watching over the entire episode that the monument the man was about to spoil is about 2,000 years old. Since such monuments are India’s pride, they should be preserved.
Creative take
The films have been put together by FS Advertising, one of the creative agencies appointed to handle the creative duties for the Ministry of Tourism. Ramma Luthra, managing director, FS Advertising, takes pride in telling afaqs! that the agency proposed the concept of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ five years ago and has been nurturing it since then.
The two campaigns address two different hurdles for the tourism business in India – the vandalism of monuments by the Indian residents themselves and the misbehaviour towards tourists. The campaign concerning graffiti on monuments is carried forward from last year.
Leena Nandan, joint secretary, Ministry of Tourism, tells afaqs! that the campaigns are aimed at social awareness and mass sensitisation. She reveals that the Aamir Khan TV commercials and print campaigns will run till March this year and an amount of Rs 10 crore has been set aside for the period. Subsequently, there will be a new media plan and a new set of commercials.
Khan will star only in the Atithi Devo Bhava campaign, which is a part of domestic publicity and not intended for international airing. The misbehaviour campaign ran for 15 days and soon, the graffiti commercial will be on air for a fortnight. A website, http://www.atithi.org.in/, has also been put in place to highlight the same concept.
The Atithi Devo Bhava campaigns have always aimed at bringing out social ills which affect the tourism business either directly or indirectly. The first campaign was released in 2004 about the misbehaviour of taxi drivers. The second was based on misleading tourist guides and in the third year, it was about garbage accumulation. The campaign, in its fourth year in 2008, focussed on the garbage issue, apart from graffiti.
Talking about bringing Aamir Khan on board as a brand ambassador, Luthra says, “The Atithi Devo Bhava campaign has been building up gradually, and now, it takes a quantum leap with Khan as a brand endorser. It was essential to give the campaign a voice. When we offered the role to Khan, he agreed.
“It was important to put the onus on each resident of the country regarding such an issue; each one of us becomes a stakeholder in behaving well with the tourists and preventing wrong incidents from taking place,” she adds.
Getting a face for the first time
Aamir Khan as the brand endorser for Incredible India may seem like a good idea to some, but there are the exceptions. Khurana feels that Khan the actor has been underutilised and muses if there could have been a better way of using him.
Reviewing what Khan has delivered over the years, Paddy feels that the people have a lot of respect for the Bollywood actor and getting him on board was a good thought. But that neither makes the story engaging nor does it give any long lasting or recallable value.
Pat feels that Khan fits the bill and it’s a good idea to make him the spokesperson; he carries enough respect to come down hard on people.
Being a part of domestic publicity, Khan will be seen only for the Atithi Devo Bhava campaign.
For the record, the communication for Incredible India (created by Grey Worldwide back then) had gathered accolades at the Euro Effies in 2006.