Irresponsible Car Advertisements

We’ve had the great and the good from the Mumbai film industry refuse, frequently, to accept responsibility for encouraging violent social behaviour, smoking and other vices through their doubtless well-performed appearances in films and advertisements. However, there are certain car advertisements that should be given a second look,keeping in mind the car accident near India Gate early this morning. I’m referring to the car ads in which Shah Rukh Khan is shown racing against a female driver and another in which Saif Ali Khan tries all kinds of driving stunts to persuade Rani Mukherjee to join him for a coffee. Car makers should remember that:

• India has the world’s worst drivers--they don’t follow rules and use the horn indiscriminately.


• India also has, or will soon have, a high traffic density on its roads.


• India also has a large group of young drivers, who think nothing of drinking and driving. Look at the four young people involved in the accident early this morning--all of them college students!

Hence the need for car manufacturers to advertise responsibly. Please include a disclaimer (similar to that shown in the Coca Cola India ad.) advising drivers not to follow the stunts shown in television advertisements. Although I quite agree with the young lady in the ad when she hits the injured driver’s broken leg--he’d driven very dangerously indeed to lay his hands on a Coke bottle.