The Nation's Favourite, Amul Girl Turns Fifty

If we put together all of the Amul ads in chronological order, we would have ourselves the news that mattered to us the most in the last 50 years. The blue-haired girl in the red-polka dotted dress struck a chord with us right from the start. She became a national favourite for her bang on-time, tongue-in-cheek one-liners and commentary.

Also Read: When The Amul Girl Got Our Sentiments Bang On In 2016 

The Amul team came together to launch the third edition of the Amul book series earlier this week, launching Amul's India 3.0 in Delhi.

Rahul daCunha answers questions at the Amul's India 3.0 book launch

Santosh Desai, Indrajit Hazra, Jai Arjun Singh, and  R.S Sodhi,MD, Amul, came together to discuss, "Amul girl ko gussa kyu nahi ata hai?" a conversation chaired by Rahul daCunha.

R.S Sodhi, twisted the question to make it "Amul girl 'pe' gussa kyu nahi ata hai?" He went on to explain the reason why a fairly intolerant nation has been rather tolerant when it comes to the noseless, 50-year-old, Amul girl.

He told the audience about how he gets asked about Amul girl before anything else. He said, "when you say Amul, the campaign is the first thing which comes to your mind", he added, "that is the credibility of the campaign."

"She is the most precious asset of Amul," Sodhi told SheThePeople.TV.

The book tries to capture this very essence of the campaign -- the idea of the Amul girl. Writers and social commentators have shared their take on Amul girl -- and their favourite ads!

Indrajit Hazra, a novelist and an editor, writes, "The fact of the matter is, every time I see the ageless, noseless Amul girl in newspapers and on billboards, I don't think of Amul. Or even dairy products. (Although, I do think of her whenever I'm close to any dairy product, a holy cow inside a car or in front of it included.) I think only of the girl."

Also Read: Ratna Pathak Shah’s sweet touch to the new Amul ad

Such is the charm of Amul girl, who was a creation of Eustace Fernandes and Sylvester daCunha. She was born out of a need for a spokesperson for the brand, which already had the tagline 'Utterly Butterly Delicious'. Now it needed a child, "someone impish and loveable" to speak for the brand and Eustace gave Sylvester just that.

RS Sodhi in an animated conversation with the panelists at the book launch

Amul's cutting edge ads in many ways are a success story also because the creatives don't have to be vetted out by the client.

Sylvester daCunha writes in the book, "He (Dr V Kurien) told the agency that they were free to operate without obtaining his okay. That was a rare gesture indeed, but it reflected his unique way of going about things -- the same uniqueness that made him the father of the milk revolution."

The book is a treasure trove with ads you might not find on the internet. It brings you the best of all that we Indians are fan of, Cricket, Bollywood, Politics etc., everything that Amul girl finds comment worthy. Everything but religion. We Indians prefer Ghee.

The book lies on my bedside table and I find myself just staring at the ads for their sheer simplicity of design, the intelligence of words and visuals, all coming together to document history, one hoarding at a time.