1) Diamond Supreme Foam

Putting your not-so-sexy product next to sexy models is probably not the best way to get your little foam products noticed. What is the deal with half-dressed women, stiff muscles and memory foam anyway? (wink wink). Seems like someone on the brand team really wanted to work with models. Oh! Behave Diamond Foam.

2) Velo – Live Unstoppable

A great example of a huge budget squandered on ineffective communication. Big celebs and flashy production do not make up for lack of clarity in the messaging. I was never sure whether Velo is supposed to get me high or chill me out. Super vague.

3) Pepsi – Why Not, Meri Jaan?

I have always found Pepsi to be a confused brand and their recent dying-to-be-desi campaign has catapulted them even further out of the stratosphere of my understanding. It honestly seems like a slogan someone read on the back of a rickshaw (and I suspect that’s what they are aspiring to). The question is: why, meri jaan? Why?

4) Dairy Milk – Kuch Meetha Hojaye

I am all for brands getting into social commentary but it should at least have some relevance. Over here, Dairy Milk is just exposing how families know so little about one another. Their ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’ platform deserves much better than this. Felt more sour than sweet.

5) Changan Auto – Drive Your Dreams

Few ads ever leave me speechless but this literally took my breath away, in the worst possible way. An uncle farts in a lift, blames it on someone else, something about the environment, car shot, the end. All the principles of marketing gone… much like a fart in the wind. It is a misuse of potty humor and probably the worst and most thoughtless ad of 2021, if not the entire century.

Taimur Tajik is Creative Head, Interwood