A Lesson in Advertising Semantics

Have you guys seen this?




Most of you probably have, given how much it's on every television channel. But listen to the ad copy again, specifically, the dialogue. The woman says: "Mujh se shaadi ke baad tumhari awaaz tau aur bhi ziada khoobsurat ho gayi hai" (After marriage to me, your voice has become even more beautiful).

Now, the "Mujh se" seems superfluous here. She could as well have begun the sentence "Shaadi ke baad tumhari awaaz...." (After marriage, your voice...) and I'm quite sure that is how the lines were originally written. But she doesn't. And I'm pretty sure I know why. I know how these corporate types think, especially the corporate types who THINK they are creative managers of the media. (God knows I have dealt with enough of these wankers.)

Some bright spark must have suddenly felt that the line, as originally written, could have brought down the moral brigade on the company, for promoting adultery, so to speak. After all, here is this woman flirting away with a man who is obviously not present with her at night. So the shaadi could be interpreted as her lover's betrothal to someone else.

Their bright spark of an idea? You guessed it: add "Mujh se" in the beginning to make clear that the wedding is to this same woman we are seeing in the ad.

But here's my question: what is to prevent this ad to be taken as about a situation where the already married guy has secretly taken this woman as his second wife, and is now forced to sneak away from his "official" wife to flirt with this woman on the phone since he obviously cannot spend the night with her? Think about the indications...

1) She pointedly refers to "Mujh se shaadi", implying that his earlier wedding did not have that kind of effect on his voice.

2)They are newly married (since she refers to the wedding and they are still flirting) but are not together at night.

3)They speak in hushed tones.

I know what you're probably thinking: 'Well, he could simply be away for work after being newly married!' In which case, why would she need to preface her words with 'Mujh se'? I mean, if you're speaking to your spouse, you wouldn't normally say 'After marriage TO ME', now, would you?

Moral of the Tale: Corporate types only THINK they are being smart.