Chavan, his deputy Pawar go missing from govt ads

Govt goes for a ‘faceless’ campaign after survey shows people are put off by ministers’ faces in ads

The advertisement that appeared in a Marathi daily Tuesday. (Express)

In a break with tradition, the Prithviraj Chavan-led Maharashtra government has decided not to project any face in its media campaign ahead of the Assembly polls due in October.

According to senior state functionaries, the decision was taken after a survey showed people were put off by faces of ministers being included in advertisements promoting development and welfare work carried out by the government.

“This is perhaps the first time when a state government has opted for a faceless media campaign ahead of polls. Even in Maharashtra, the custom has been to put mug shots or larger-than-life pictures of the CM, the Deputy CM and ministers of the departments concerned,” said a source.

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The advertisements appearing in leading regional papers on Tuesday carried the slogan – Sarvat Pudhe Maharashtra Maza (Maharashtra is the most ahead).

These advertisements will focus on marquee schemes implemented by the government in 31 sectors during the past five years, according to a source.

The source said that while designing the campaign, the state’s Directorate General for Information and Broadcasting Services had carried out a spot survey which revealed that people did not take kindly to the practice of carrying pictures of ministers in government advertisements. After the survey results were shared with CM Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, the source claimed, both agreed for a campaign minus their pictures.

The state government has set aside Rs 93 crore for the media campaign, which would be run till the model code of conduct for the October elections kicks in sometime in August.

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According to another senior state functionary, the state leadership has opted for a saturated 360-degree campaign. Besides newspaper advertisements, the government’s performance card would be promoted through social media, digital media and hoardings. In fact, the government has also composed 10 different jingles to promote its work. A senior official said that leading poets, writers and producers have contributed for these.
Bharat Dabholkar for Cong poll campaign?

The clamour for engaging top advertising professionals to execute election campaign has grown after BJP’s successful bid for the Lok Sabha polls. On Monday, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan reportedly held discussion with ad man Bharat Dabholkar on ideas for the Assembly election campaign. The BJP had roped in lyricist and adman Prasoon Joshi, adman Piyush Pandey and veteran media planning expert Sam Balsara for the LS polls.

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