In papers on January 17: Jhootha: Have you seen the fabulous Adarsh schools built by the Badals? Thaggi: Forget Adarsh Schools. We in Congress believe in Adarsh scams Jaunuary 18 Jhootha: Between the two of us,truth is that Badals have built many flyovers Thaggi: Who cares about flyovers. We in the Congress like to fly to Dubai and Switzerland and stash money in Swiss accounts The Akali Dals counter-offensive to its hugely-popular Jeeta and Jaggi ad campaign has the Congress smiling. Its logic is simple: The two characters praising the Akali government are called Jhootha (liar) and Thaggi (cheating). In their mutual banter,they take some interesting digs at the Congress but partys choice of names,says the Congress,is a goof-up. The Akali Dals ad firm Brand Curry counters it with the logic of the characters being oxymoron (speech that has contradictory terms). It is like Mr Clean ad (of England) to highlight misinformation campaign of Jeeta and Jaggi. Jhoota and Thaggi are not our characters but only created to reveal their true identity. It is something people had to be told in an intrusive manner, firms head Subroto Chakroborty says. But the Akali Dal seems to be in damage-control mode. In the new ads,Jhootha begins by saying that it is becoming difficult to lie these days. So even that contradiction is taken care of, he adds. However,the character who takes a dig at the Congress by saying We in Congress believe in doing bigger things (read scams) is still called Thaggi. But the Congress ad agency,Crayons,says in an attempt to ridicule Jeeta and Jaggi,the ad campaign has ended up ridiculing its own characters. Who should a voter believe? The one who is questioning Congress claims but is called Jhootha or the one who is ridiculing the Congress but is called Thaggi. They were forced to follow our characters and had enough time to be creative but they are confusing their own voters, says Aman Pathak of Crayons. The Congress has already planned to make the ads more intelligible. Starting tomorrow,its ads will say who is Jhootha (Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal) and who is Thaggi (deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal). Ads are made for partys brand-building and not testing the intelligence of voters. All they are doing is copy. The poll manifesto will be next, says Congress ad campaign in-charge Capt Sandeep Sandhu. Meanwhile,the fan following of Jeeta and Jaggi,who debuted last month,has crossed 24,000 on Facebook and is counting.
