Irreverence sells. This is especially so when it comes from a loveable icon and touches on the issues of the day with buttery smoothness in times when self-censorship reigns and satire is receding. It is unlikely that Sylvester daCunha, who died in Mumbai on Tuesday, realised the impact his creation would have when he first conceived of the “Amul girl” in 1966. Yet, the child in the polka-dotted dress has been more than just a brand ambassador for an “utterly, butterly, delicious” product. While selling butter, she became a reflection of, and a barometer for, a country’s zeitgeist.
The Amul girl has borne witness to some of the most significant events in independent India. The ads have, at times, parsed the news to pull off a punchline that hit at the heart of the matter. On Rahul Gandhi’s famous (or, infamous, depending on your political leanings) hug in Parliament in July 2018, the caption read, “embracing ya embarrassing?” The wit pioneered by daCunha also invited controversy and outrage, for poking fun at the powers-that-be and for seeming too edgy: The 1976 ad poking fun at the Emergency’s sterilisation drive was put out at some risk, and a play of words around the Ganpati festival invited the ire of the Shiv Sena in the 1980s. Yet, day in and day out, the Amul girl found ways to turn headlines into taglines.
When daCunha came up with the Amul girl, with inputs from founder Verghese Kurien, the media as a whole was not the behemoth it is today. And the pre-liberalisation state was larger and more overbearing. Yet, not only did the girl survive with all her irreverence intact, she thrived. Now, in the age of memes, internet shutdowns and smart machines, daCunha can rest easy knowing that his work will find ways to sell butter while taking a stab or two at the powers that be for some time to come.
