The ‘Utterly Butterly’ Amul Girl: Here’s a snapshot of her journey so far
McDonald’s Ronald clown, Kellogg’s Tony tiger, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Nintendo’s Mario, KFC’s Colonel Sanders, the Duracell bunny, the Michelin Man Bibendum - any guesses what is common in them? Well, all these are the world-famous mascots.
Mascots are graphical characters, which are meant to “humanise” a company or a brand and its communication with its audience. Simply put, when a brand wants to attract your attention to buy its product, a good way is to use a cartoon character to connect better with you. For example, the Coco monkey, the iconic fun mascot for Kellogg’s Chocos, has become synonymous with the pack.
One of such immensely successful mascots is the deliciously witty Amul Butter Girl.
The birth of Amul Girl
Created in 1966 by an illustrator named Eustace Fernandes, the cheerful blue-haired round-eyed, chubby-cheeked girl with a tied-up pony was created as a response to the rival brand Polson’s butter girl. The little moppet in a white dress with red polka dots has wowed the nation for over 50 years now with her sometimes tongue-in-cheek, occasionally controversial and always enjoyable one-liners in billboard and print ads.
The success story
The Amul Girl mascot and slogan (Utterly Butterly), which was also developed in 1966, first appeared on a few lamp-post boards in Mumbai and immediately struck a chord with the parents. Since then, the dairy giant’s campaigns and brand continue to outlive expectations with close to 6,000 billboard hoardings being produced across India according to reports.
So what makes it different and inviting? While conventionally a big celebrity would advertise a brand on a TV commercial or a hoarding, Amul Girl advertisements would focus on more topical events with a simple message to bring home a point. For example, the Amul Girl ad would comment on contemporary events in sports, politics and films, etc. with a unique style of vocabulary, lots of puns and a colloquial flavour to connect with people.
The ideas for the ads are selected from the top stories in newspapers and check on social media which subject is hot that everyone is thinking about but does not offend anybody. Also while writing the ad, the agenda is that the headline of the ad should refer to the current happenings and as far as possible the baseline should be connected to Amul butter.
While most of its satirical messages have been welcomed sportingly by popular figures and organisations, occasionally though, a few of its ads also manage to ruffle feathers.
5 remarkable advertisements with the Amul Girl
Here is our pick of top Amul ads that deserve a mention.
Hailing India’s move to open COVID vaccine for everyone above 18 years in 2021
Boycotting Chinese products in 2020
Featuring a contestant winning a jackpot in TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000
Congratulating India won record 19 medals at Tokyo Paralympics in 2021
Welcoming India’s new president Droupadi Murmu in 2022
