Walk the Talk: Idea Cellular

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I have been thinking about writing a walk the talk series of posts for quite sometime now. In this series I basically intend to look at various advertisements and promotion strategies employed by companies and try to find out how many of them are actually implementing it in their practices, or, 'Walk the Talk'.

I thought about Walk the Talk series because of late I have noticed many adverts focused on environmental issues and how it can be reduced. These ads just made me wonder how many of these companies are actually employing environment friendly policies in their operations?

First ad I want to consider in this series is Idea Cellular: Use mobile save planet ad. The ad is given below:


I would say creators of this ad had their heart at the right place. I am all for saving paper and thus, saving trees. But true colors of Idea Cellular came to light when Indian Paper Manufacturers' Association (IPMA) dragged Idea Cellular to Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). IPMA claimed that Idea Cellular ad is pitching against usage of paper and will adversely affect Indian Paper Industry as a whole.

Idea cellular, in all honesty has responded by claiming that they just wanted to promote reduced wastage of paper and thus promote conservation. I could not find any information (I did not try too hard also) which indicated that Idea has actually implemented any such policies in its office. Also, I could not find any hint that Idea has actually funded, or is actively supporting any project which is developing any solution - the likes of which are depicted in its ads.

So, is it really walking the talk? I don't think so. What do you think junta?

Disclaimer: Thoughts expressed here are my own and are not indicative of opinion of my employers.

Comments

Vaibhav Agarwal said…
Nice thoughts..

I couldn't even hear/read any steps taken by Idea to walk the talk..

On the other hand, Idea has been sucessful in attracting masses due to this eye catching campaign.
11:06 AM
Unknown said…
I recently was asked to submit hardcopy of my bill when i wanted a new sim...even when i said tht I get ebill, the official asked me to take a PRINTOUT so I mailed the customer service asking them the same "walk the talk". Then the customer service official calls me back saying 1st page of bill will do :-)
4:48 PM
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