Vivo India's ‘Switch Off’ campaign highlights the cause of child neglect

Chinese smartphone company Vivo Mobile India has launched a new campaign to highlight the overuse of smartphones by parents.

The company, via a television commercial, said smartphones have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives, be it business, communication, information, or entertainment. However, with its increasing significance, especially post-pandemic, excessive use of smartphones has also impacted relationships. “We might not be fully aware, but smartphones have jeopardized the quality of our relationships with everyone around us and is now adversely impacting the parent-child relationship, too," it said in a statement.

The Chinese brand launched its third ‘Switch Off’ campaign with a film that showcases how parents are missing out on being fully present in their children’s lives.

The campaign is founded on the observation from vivo-CyberMedia Research (CMR) study ‘Impact of Smartphones on Human Relationships 2021’ that underlines 74% of parents confessing that their excessive usage of smartphones has hurt their relationship with their children. The study focuses on the relationship dynamics of parents and children with respect to the omnipresence of smartphones in families.

The new ad film features actor Jimmy Shergil as a busy father deeply engaged with his phone. His young school-going son travelling with him in the car is able to elicit only monosyllabic responses from his father and eventually hints that he's lost his 'best friend' to the gadget. The father realises the need to disconnect with the phone and recapture the relationship he shared with his son who has been feeling neglected.

The film has been conceptualised by Lowe Lintas.

Yogendra Sriramula, director, Brand Strategy, Vivo India, said, “The pandemic has made digital technology and smartphone devices an indispensable need for all of us. What we don’t often realise is that how excessive usage of these devices is impacting the young and naïve minds around us."

He added the company felt the need to highlight the impact of excessive usage of phone by adults on their children. "We might be around our children, but the quality of the time spent with them is something that we don’t pay much attention to," he said.

Amar Singh, regional creative officer, Lowe Lintas, added, “Children are very quick to pick up on the signals we send out. And a child’s mind is a very fertile place. This film conceptualized by Rajat, Vishal, Stuti and Kushal, explores what may be going through a child’s mind as he sees his parents obsessing with their phone. What inferences his little mind might draw. And how it’s imperative for adults to find it within themselves, to stop."

The company recently announced the findings of the third edition of the study titled ‘Impact of Smartphones on Human Relationships 2021’. The study highlights that while the time that is spent with kids and family, in general, has gone up, the quality of time spent has deteriorated.

Vivo Mobile India's revenue from operations were at Rs17,201.7 crore for the year ended 3March, 2019, according to Registrar of Companies filing accessed by market intelligence firm Tofler. Vivo's total expenses rose to ₹25,618.79 crore in FY20 from Rs17,397.71 crore in the previous fiscal, it said in its RoC filings to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.