Advertising in Pakistan can be akin to walking through a minefield. Recently, a billboard advertising Jazz phone on one of Karachi’s main thoroughfares was burnt down by an enraged mob apparently protesting against the model’s sleeveless outfit. Late last year, the Habib Oil press ad depicting a mother and child kissing, aroused the indignation of several viewers who wrote to the advertisers as well as the publications that printed it. However, telephones and cooking oils are innocuous products. The advertisers’ task, one can imagine, is twice as difficult in the case of products like contraceptives, undergarments and sanitary napkins or issues such as AIDS.

The latest furore in this category of advertising was caused by the Wahedna DMB&B agency’s television ad for Always sanitary napkins. The advertisement, the first for such a product, ran for about seven weeks and was screened once or twice on an almost daily basis on PTV when, following several hundred angry letters of protest from some sections of the public to the PTV headquarters, it was taken off the air. Negotiations are reportedly underway with the government, specifically the ministry of religious affairs, so that the advertisement, after some modifications, can be aired once again.

Incidentally, the advertisement, as per PTV rules, had been certified fit for viewing by the Pakistan Censor Board.

Procter and Gamble, the manufacturers of Always sanitary napkins, have commissioned local versions of the ad in different countries, keeping their individual cultural norms in view. A P&G representative points out that other Muslim countries such as Morocco, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia have also advertised the product. “Whenever you talk about change, you face resistance. Even in Egypt, the local version of the Always ad was taken off the air, but was put back on after slight modifications,” he says. Maintaining “there was nothing unIslamic about the ad,” he explains that P&G had, prior to advertising the product in Pakistan, obtained decrees from local religious institutes as well as global ones such as Al-Azhar, endorsing the advertisement of the product “while remaining within the limits of decency.” According to him, “The masses appreciated it as did several NGOs. The resistance came from conservative elements.”

Ironically, the made-in-Pakistan ad continues to be aired on cable and satellite television, thereby continuing to reach a large section of the population. Meanwhile, the Pakistan government continues to lose out on a precious source of revenue.

Mirza Yousuf Baig, managing director PTV, received 200 to 300 letters condemning the screening of the ad and demanding that it be withdrawn. For his part, he maintains that “Everyone has the right of access to information. Pressure groups have no right to block this access. This was information pertaining to hygiene, not a vulgar drama.”

Nevertheless, he says he did foresee the prospect of opposition to the ad. “Perhaps the demonstration of the product should not have been so extensive. Rather, its corporate identity should have been displayed and the brand established.”

After the barrage of protest mail addressed to the PTV, he discloses that he is now receiving letters in favour of the ad, particularly from women, NGOs and college organisations.

However, he decries the hypocrisy underlying the entire brouhaha. “Some people in our society have double standards. They should be writing to satellite companies as well, demanding that the ad be discontinued on cable TV. Newspapers, largely the Urdu press, have also played a role in this whole affair. They have printed editorials and letters against the ad, even while running the press version of it in their own publications.”

While the bold depiction of the product in the Always ad may have been revolutionary, innuendo and understatement are the usual tools employed by advertisers in case of products that can easily be the target of public censure, particularly in the case of billboard and television advertising. For instance, the IFG Triumph lingerie ad, made by Circuit, shows a radiantly smiling model, with a spaghetti strap coyly peeking from a corner of the image, accompanied by the enigmatic slogan, “Fashion and so much more.” An earlier ad by Circuit for Triumph IFG was accompanied by the more forthcoming statement, “Elegant lingerie that fits your lifestyle.”

Soofia Ishaque, creative director at Circuit, says that the agency has been handling IFG’s advertising ever since the company arrived in Pakistan in 1987 and there have been no controversies pertaining to it. “That’s because firstly, IFG doesn’t do television advertising, which with live models would have been a problem. They advertise mainly through print, billboards, leaflets and posters ? the last two are distributed through their women-only outlets so we have creative freedom there and can show the product. Secondly, they are a very established brand in the market. Because of that we can make a statement and have it understood. If it was a brand new product, and we were launching it, we would have had to go about it in a different way.”

Nevertheless, the restrictions on visual representation means that the agency has had to pull out all its creative stops. Says Soofia, “We’ve worked around it by showing elements from the product such as lace. Advertising is about challenges and I don’t think that a stricter censorship policy means that an agency can’t be as effective.” She cites the example of the Jockey underwear ads that appeared last year, made by an agency other than Circuit. In the original format, the product had been displayed on live models. The uproar that followed led the agency to replace the model with asexual stick figures, particularly in the outdoor ads. “They were very memorable and hard-hitting ads,” says Soofia. “We work with different kinds of restrictions on various products. There can be budget restrictions, cultural restrictions and so on. But there’s always a creative solution.”

Advertisements for contraceptives or AIDS awareness campaigns are also circumscribed by perceived social sensitivities, although advertising in the field of social marketing has been increasing steadily. Spectrum advertisers handle a private sector family planning project for the promotion of hormonal contraceptives. The agency had to contend with obstacles early on when it selected a key ? designed in the form of a family’s silhouette ? as the logo for the project. “We had five or six potential logos,” says Ghazala Ahmed, director social marketing at Spectrum. “They were pretested to ascertain which was the most appropriate and the one that was selected was the key. It is an object of common use for everyone across the social strata, it’s not elitist, and it has good connotations ? key to success, key to treasure and so on. However, Nawaz Sharif, who was the prime minister at the time, said that his fax machines were blocked with messages demanding that the advertising campaign be discontinued because a key is very provocative.”

The project symbol and the advertising campaign gathered dust for a while. Then, after some persuasion by the agency, the project was allowed to go back on air, but not during prime time. “And this despite the fact that our growing population is taxing our resources to the extent that we are becoming unsustainable as a country,” Ghazala points out. “We were placed in the same category as the cigarette ads, which are aired after 9.30 p.m. The majority of people go to bed by 10 p.m. The government policies are not conducive to product-specific family planning. If they were at all serious about tackling this issue, they would allow the screening of these ads which have been approved by the ministry of health and the Pakistan censor board and are not offending anyone’s social or cultural sensibilities.” It has only been since last month that the ads are being screened on prime time on PTV during certain programmes sponsored by the project.

Apparently illogical objections have also been made by the censor board to the language in the ads. “They won’t let us state anything very direct,” says Ghazala. “For instance, they won’t let us say ‘waqfay ki golian’ for the pills ? we can say ‘golian’ on its own but cannot say what they are used for.”

Spectrum’s AIDS campaign has had its own share of troubles. About four years ago, a commercial was to be presented which included a shot of a sealed packet of condoms. The censor board banned the ad because of that image. “How can you talk about AIDS and not talk about sexuality or promiscuity?” asks Ghazala. “The indirect approach of our television and government has resulted in many misconceptions among the public. In a research study, several young adults were asked how they thought AIDS was transmitted. They said you get it from holding hands with someone while walking on the beach. This is precisely the image they’ve seen in the ads pertaining to AIDS. We cannot say it is a sexually transmitted disease and that people should practice safe sex. The whole AIDS campaign is centred around having safe blood transfusions, using new syringes and keeping to one’s marriage partner. It is as though sex outside the marital bond does not exist. It’s a challenge to get a message across that one feels will actually be working for the campaign.”

The AIDS awareness commercials created by Spectrum and currently on air, apparently having been deemed suitably kosher by the concerned authorities, make use of celebrities as spokespersons. One shows Fatima Surriya Bajiya walking through a hospital, explaining that AIDS is an incurable disease that results in death and advocating clean blood, new syringes and staying with one’s life partner in order to avoid infection. Another version has Zaheer Abbas and his wife endorsing similar safe health practices.

The puritanical outlook that perceives advertisements for sanitary napkins as being obscene has led to a situation where, in tandem with the official head-in-the-sand attitude regarding sexuality, issues vital to the health and well-being of the masses remain cloaked in vague euphemisms. In the process, the individual's right to information is given short shrift

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